Genesis 36:1-43

The Descendants of Esau

36:1 What follows is the account of Esau (also known as Edom). ¹ 

36:2 Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: ²  Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah and granddaughter ³  of Zibeon the Hivite, 36:3 in addition to Basemath the daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.

36:4 Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath bore Reuel, 36:5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

36:6 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, all the people in his household, his livestock, his animals, and all his possessions which he had acquired in the land of Canaan and went to a land some distance away from ⁴  Jacob his brother 36:7 because they had too many possessions to be able to stay together and the land where they had settled ⁵  was not able to support them because of their livestock. 36:8 So Esau (also known as Edom) lived in the hill country of Seir. ⁶ 

36:9 This is the account of Esau, the father ⁷  of the Edomites, in the hill country of Seir.

36:10 These were the names of Esau’s sons:

Eliphaz, the son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel, the son of Esau’s wife Basemath.

36:11 The sons of Eliphaz were:

Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

36:12 Timna, a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These were the sons ⁸  of Esau’s wife Adah.

36:13 These were the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sons ⁹  of Esau’s wife Basemath.

36:14 These were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah the daughter of Anah and granddaughter ¹⁰  of Zibeon: She bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah to Esau.

36:15 These were the chiefs ¹¹  among the descendants ¹²  of Esau, the sons of Eliphaz, Esau’s firstborn: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, 36:16 chief Korah, ¹³  chief Gatam, chief Amalek. These were the chiefs descended from Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these were the sons ¹⁴  of Adah.

36:17 These were the sons of Esau’s son Reuel: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah. These were the chiefs descended from Reuel in the land of Edom; these were the sons ¹⁵  of Esau’s wife Basemath.

36:18 These were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah. These were the chiefs descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.

36:19 These were the sons of Esau (also known as Edom), and these were their chiefs.

36:20 These were the sons of Seir the Horite, ¹⁶  who were living in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 36:21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, the descendants ¹⁷  of Seir in the land of Edom.

36:22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Homam; ¹⁸  Lotan’s sister was Timna.

36:23 These were the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, ¹⁹  and Onam.

36:24 These were the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah (who discovered the hot springs ²⁰  in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of his father Zibeon).

36:25 These were the children ²¹  of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.

36:26 These were the sons of Dishon: ²²  Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran.

36:27 These were the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

36:28 These were the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

36:29 These were the chiefs of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, 36:30 chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, according to their chief lists in the land of Seir.

36:31 These were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king ruled over the Israelites: ²³ 

36:32 Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; the name of his city was Dinhabah.

36:33 When Bela died, Jobab the son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his place.

36:34 When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites reigned in his place.

36:35 When Husham died, Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated the Midianites in the land of Moab, reigned in his place; the name of his city was Avith.

36:36 When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah reigned in his place.

36:37 When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth by the River ²⁴  reigned in his place.

36:38 When Shaul died, Baal-Hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place.

36:39 When Baal-Hanan the son of Achbor died, Hadad ²⁵  reigned in his place; the name of his city was Pau. ²⁶  His wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-Zahab.

36:40 These were the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their families, according to their places, by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth, 36:41 chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, 36:42 chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, 36:43 chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements ²⁷  in the land they possessed. This was Esau, the father of the Edomites.

Genesis 1:4

1:4 God saw ²⁸  that the light was good, ²⁹  so God separated ³⁰  the light from the darkness.

Joshua 24:23

24:23 Joshua said, ³¹  “Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to ³²  the Lord God of Israel.”

Joshua 24:1

Israel Renews its Commitment to the Lord

24:1 Joshua assembled all the Israelite tribes at Shechem. He summoned Israel’s elders, rulers, judges, and leaders, and they appeared before God.

Joshua 8:1-2

Israel Conquers Ai

8:1 The Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! ³³  Take the whole army with you and march against Ai! ³⁴  See, I am handing over to you ³⁵  the king of Ai, along with his people, city, and land. 8:2 Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho ³⁶  and its king, except you may plunder its goods and cattle. Set an ambush behind the city!”

Joshua 19:3

19:3 Hazar Shual, Balah, Ezem,

Philippians 2:13

2:13 for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.

[36:1]  ¹ sn Chapter 36 records what became of Esau. It will list both his actual descendants as well as the people he subsumed under his tribal leadership, people who were aboriginal Edomites. The chapter is long and complicated (see further J. R. Bartlett, “The Edomite King-List of Genesis 36:31-39 and 1 Chronicles 1:43-50,” JTS 16 [1965]: 301-14; and W. J. Horowitz, “Were There Twelve Horite Tribes?” CBQ 35 [1973]: 69-71). In the format of the Book of Genesis, the line of Esau is “tidied up” before the account of Jacob is traced (37:2). As such the arrangement makes a strong contrast with Jacob. As F. Delitzsch says, “secular greatness in general grows up far more rapidly than spiritual greatness” (New Commentary on Genesis, 2:238). In other words, the progress of the world far out distances the progress of the righteous who are waiting for the promise.

[36:2]  ² tn Heb “from the daughters of Canaan.”

[36:2]  ³ tn Heb “daughter,” but see Gen 36:24-25.

[36:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “from before.”

[36:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “land of their settlements.”

[36:8]  ⁶ tn Traditionally “Mount Seir,” but in this case the expression בְּהַר שֵׂעִיר (bÿhar se’ir) refers to the hill country or highlands of Seir.

[36:9]  ⁷ sn The term father in genealogical records needs to be carefully defined. It can refer to a literal father, a grandfather, a political overlord, or a founder.

[36:12]  ⁸ tn Or “grandsons” (NIV); “descendants” (NEB).

[36:13]  ⁹ tn Or “grandsons” (NIV); “descendants” (NEB).

[36:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “daughter,” but see Gen 36:24-25.

[36:15]  ¹¹ tn Or “clan leaders” (so also throughout this chapter).

[36:15]  ¹² tn Or “sons.”

[36:16]  ¹³ tc The Samaritan Pentateuch omits the name “Korah” (see v. 11 and 1 Chr 1:36).

[36:16]  ¹⁴ tn Or “grandsons” (NIV); “descendants” (NEB).

[36:17]  ¹⁵ tn Or “grandsons” (NIV); “descendants” (NEB).

[36:20]  ¹⁶ sn The same pattern of sons, grandsons, and chiefs is now listed for Seir the Horite. “Seir” is both the name of the place and the name of the ancestor of these tribes. The name “Horite” is probably not to be identified with “Hurrian.” The clan of Esau settled in this area, intermarried with these Horites and eventually dispossessed them, so that they all became known as Edomites (Deut 2:12 telescopes the whole development).

[36:21]  ¹⁷ tn Or “sons.”

[36:22]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Hemam”; this is probably a variant spelling of “Homam” (1 Chr 1:39); cf. NRSV, NLT “Heman.”

[36:23]  ¹⁹ tn This name is given as “Shephi” in 1 Chr 1:40.

[36:24]  ²⁰ tn The meaning of this Hebrew term is uncertain; Syriac reads “water” and Vulgate reads “hot water.”

[36:25]  ²¹ tn Heb “sons,” but since a daughter is included in the list, the word must be translated “children.”

[36:26]  ²² tn Heb “Dishan,” but this must be either a scribal error or variant spelling, since “Dishan” is mentioned in v. 28 (see also v. 21).

[36:31]  ²³ tn Or perhaps “before any Israelite king ruled over [them].”

[36:37]  ²⁴ tn Typically the Hebrew expression “the River” refers to the Euphrates River, but it is not certain whether that is the case here. Among the modern English versions which take this as a reference to the Euphrates are NASB, NCV, NRSV, CEV, NLT. Cf. NAB, TEV “Rehoboth-on-the-River.”

[36:39]  ²⁵ tc Most mss of the MT read “Hadar” here; “Hadad” is the reading found in some Hebrew mss, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and Syriac (cf. also 1 Chr 1:50).

[36:39]  ²⁶ tn The name of the city is given as “Pai” in 1 Chr 1:50.

[36:43]  ²⁷ tn Or perhaps “territories”; Heb “dwelling places.”

[1:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “And God saw the light, that it was good.” The verb “saw” in this passage carries the meaning “reflected on,” “surveyed,” “concluded,” “noted.” It is a description of reflection of the mind – it is God’s opinion.

[1:4]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew word טוֹב (tov) in this context signifies whatever enhances, promotes, produces, or is conducive for life. It is the light that God considers “good,” not the darkness. Whatever is conducive to life in God’s creation is good, for God himself is good, and that goodness is reflected in all of his works.

[1:4]  ³⁰ tn The verb “separate, divide” here explains how God used the light to dispel the darkness. It did not do away with the darkness completely, but made a separation. The light came alongside the darkness, but they are mutually exclusive – a theme that will be developed in the Gospel of John (cf. John 1:5).

[24:23]  ³¹ tn The words “Joshua said” are supplied for clarification.

[24:23]  ³² tn Heb “bend your heart toward.” The term לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) probably here refers to the people’s volition or will.

[8:1]  ³³ tn Or perhaps “and don’t get discouraged!”

[8:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Take with you all the people of war and arise, go up against Ai!”

[8:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “I have given into our hand.” The verbal form, a perfect, is probably best understood as a perfect of certitude, indicating the certainty of the action.

[8:2]  ³⁶ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.