Genesis 36

The Generations of Esau

Genesis stops to count Esau’s family before it follows Jacob’s. Esau moves to the hills of Seir, where his sons become the chiefs and then the kings of Edom, a nation that has land and rulers while Jacob is still a sojourner in the land promised to him.

Genesis chaptersChapter 36 of 50

Placed after Isaac’s death and burial (35:29), though the list runs on for generations, to kings who reigned before Israel had one (verse 31). The text gives no year. Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Start reading

Background

Chapter 35 ended with Isaac’s death, when “his sons Esau and Jacob buried him” (Gen. 35:29).

Chapter 35 ended with Isaac’s death, when “his sons Esau and Jacob buried him” (Gen. 35:29). Before Genesis follows Jacob’s family, it “disposes of” the generations of Esau, and the next record begins, “These are the generations of Jacob” (Gen. 37:2).

The list has five parts: Esau’s wives, sons, and move to Seir (verses 1–8); the clans and chiefs of his sons (9–19); the Horites, who lived in Seir before him (20–30); eight kings of Edom (31–39); and a last list of chiefs by name and place (40–43). It runs on for generations after Esau, down to kings who reigned “before there reigned any king over the children of Israel” (verse 31). Chronicles repeats it in shortened form (1 Chr. 1:35–54).

Edom stays in scripture as Israel’s brother and rival (see the note on verse 1). In the Doctrine and Covenants the name Idumea, another form of Edom, stands for the world (D&C 1:36).

The thread through the chapter

The chapter keeps saying who this is. “Esau, who is Edom” comes in verse 1, again in verse 8, and again in verse 19, and the chapter ends, “he is Esau the father of the Edomites,”…

The chapter keeps saying who this is. “Esau, who is Edom” comes in verse 1, again in verse 8, and again in verse 19, and the chapter ends, “he is Esau the father of the Edomites,” literally father of Edom. The name came from a bowl of red stew (Gen. 25:30), and it means “Red.” What the Lord told Rebekah, “Two nations are in thy womb” (Gen. 25:23), is here shown as true: Esau becomes a people, with clan chiefs, a conquered land, and eight kings.

The chapter also measures the distance between the two brothers. Verse 7 calls Canaan “the land wherein they were strangers,” in Hebrew the land of their “sojournings,” the word of the covenant promise to Abraham (Gen. 17:8; see the note on verse 7). Esau leaves it: “Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir” (verse 8), and the chapter closes with the chiefs of Edom “in the land of their possession” (verse 43). The next verse completes the pair with the same verb: “And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger” (Gen. 37:1). Edom is settled, with chiefs and kings; Jacob carries on his fathers’ pilgrim life in a land that has only been promised.

Genesis does not call one an answer to the other. It sets them side by side, and the New Testament says what the sojourning meant: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth,” seeking “a better country, that is, an heavenly” (Heb. 11:13–16).

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–8

Esau’s household and his move to Seir

In plain words

This is the family record of Esau, who is Edom. Esau took wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite; Aholibamah, descended from Zibeon the Hivite through Anah; and Bashemath, Ishmael’s daughter and Nebajoth’s sister. Adah bore Eliphaz, Bashemath bore Reuel, and Aholibamah bore Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah. These sons were born in Canaan.

Then Esau took his wives, sons, and daughters, everyone in his household, his livestock, and all the goods he had gained in Canaan, and moved to a land away from his brother Jacob. Their possessions were too great for them to live together, and the land where they were staying could not support them with their herds. So Esau, who is Edom, settled in the hill country of Seir.

1 Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom.

Context #

Why Genesis gives Esau’s family

Genesis counts Esau’s descendants before it follows the covenant line, just as it gave Ishmael’s generations right after Abraham’s death (Gen. 25:12–18) and only then turned to Isaac’s.

Genesis counts Esau’s descendants before it follows the covenant line, just as it gave Ishmael’s generations right after Abraham’s death (Gen. 25:12–18) and only then turned to Isaac’s. The Lord had told Rebekah that she carried “two nations” (Gen. 25:23), and this chapter is the record of the second, the nation of Edom. The name, “Red,” was Esau’s from the red stew (Gen. 25:30) and became the name of his descendants and of their country in Mount Seir.

Edom was kin. Israel was told, “Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother” (Deut. 23:7), and of Mount Seir the Lord said, “I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession” (Deut. 2:5). Yet “in spite of the kinship there seems to have been great mutual hatred, and wars were of constant occurrence.” So the list records a brother nation whose later relations with Israel were hard.

Sources: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers: Genesis, Read on Bible Hub. “Edom”, Bible Dictionary. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

2 Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite;

Context #

Esau’s wives have different names

Esau’s wives are named differently here than in chapters 26 and 28, and the text does not say why.

Esau’s wives are named differently here than in chapters 26 and 28, and the text does not say why. Earlier they were “Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite” (Gen. 26:34), and then Mahalath, Ishmael’s daughter (Gen. 28:9). Here they are Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite; Aholibamah, the Hivite; and Bashemath, Ishmael’s daughter.

Readers have explained it three ways, and none is certain. One reading is that the names are two names for the same women: “as a rule the women received new names when they were married,” and Moses “availed himself of genealogical documents for Esau’s family and tribe, and inserted them without alteration.” Adah would then be the earlier Bashemath, and Ishmael’s daughter, “sister of Nebajoth” in both places, would be Mahalath under a second name (on that marriage, see the note on Gen. 28:9). A variant keeps Adah and Bashemath as one woman but takes Aholibamah for a different wife from Judith: a Horite, since the Hebrew for Hivite and Horite differs by one small stroke. A third view is that the lists come from two differing versions of the tradition, whose differences are “too considerable to have arisen from corruptions in the text.” How Genesis was compiled leaves room for any of these: Moses “used several documentary sources from which he compiled the book,” and “scribes and copyists have left their traces.” It does not say which explanation is right.

Inside this chapter there is a smaller puzzle. Verse 2 calls Anah the daughter of Zibeon, but verse 24 makes Anah Zibeon’s son. The Septuagint reads “Ana the son of Sebegon” in verse 2, which agrees with verse 24. Verse 2 also calls Zibeon a Hivite, while verse 20 lists him among the sons of Seir the Horite. Horite may be the right reading in verse 2 as well. Nothing else in the chapter turns on which names are right.

Sources: Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers: Genesis, Read on Bible Hub. Herbert E. Ryle, The Book of Genesis in the Revised Version, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge: University Press, 1921); read on Bible Hub. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint. Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb. “Pentateuch”, Bible Dictionary. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

3 And Bashemath Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth.

4 And Adah bare to Esau Eliphaz; and Bashemath bare Reuel;

5 And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these are the sons of Esau, which were born unto him in the land of Canaan.

6 And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob.

Context #

Why Esau left, and when

The chapter gives growing wealth as the reason Esau left (verse 7), and says nothing of a quarrel.

The chapter gives growing wealth as the reason Esau left (verse 7), and says nothing of a quarrel. By then the brothers were at peace: “the brothers separated in friendly fashion.” Their meeting to bury their father, told in Gen. 35:29, was “a final amicable encounter.” The enmity came later: “in the millennia that followed, distrust and war frequently defined the relationship between Esau and Jacob’s descendants.”

When the move took place needs more care, because Genesis has already placed Esau in Seir when Jacob came home. Jacob sent messengers “to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom” (Gen. 32:3), and Esau “returned that day on his way unto Seir” (Gen. 33:16). Esau had “settled in Mount Seir” and “was living there on Jacob’s return from Padan-aram.” So verses 6–8 are best read as a summary set at the close of Esau’s record, not as a move that began only after Isaac died: once he had a house of his own and his family and flocks had grown, Esau “sought a home in Seir.” The verse itself gives no date.

Sources: “Esau”, Bible Dictionary. Camille Fronk Olson, “The Matriarchs: Administrators of God’s Covenantal Blessings”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021), 385–425. Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

7 For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle.

Language #

The land of their sojournings

This verse repeats Abraham and Lot’s parting, and it uses the covenant’s own word for the promised land.

This verse repeats Abraham and Lot’s parting, and it uses the covenant’s own word for the promised land. The Hebrew nearly repeats Gen. 13:6: “their substance was great” (rechush rav), and they could not “dwell together” (lashevet yachdav). The departure is explained by growing wealth, as with Abraham and Lot.

The phrase “the land wherein they were strangers” renders eretz megureihem, “the land of their sojournings.” The word megurim is “always plural,” and it stands in the phrase “land of sojournings” in five places: Gen. 17:8, Gen. 28:4, this verse, Gen. 37:1, and Ex. 6:4. The first two belong to the covenant promise, the Lord’s to Abraham (“the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession”) and Isaac’s blessing of Jacob. Here it is used of Esau and Jacob together. In 37:1 it belongs to Jacob alone: “And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger.” Verse 8 and 37:1 use the same Hebrew verb, vayeshev, “dwelt,” with the same conjunction, so that 37:1 reads as the companion of “Esau dwelt in mount Seir.”

Meanwhile Edom’s chiefs hold “the land of their possession” (verse 43, eretz achuzzatam). Achuzzah means “land possessed, one’s own land,” the word in the covenant’s “everlasting possession” (Gen. 17:8). Nothing says Edom’s land was not God’s gift; Deuteronomy says it was (Deut. 2:5). The contrast is only that Esau’s house is settled in a land of its own, while Jacob’s is still sojourning in one that was promised.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. Herbert E. Ryle, The Book of Genesis in the Revised Version, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge: University Press, 1921); read on Bible Hub. Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers: Genesis, Read on Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

8 Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.

Verses 9–19

Esau’s sons and the chiefs of Edom

In plain words

This is the family record of Esau, father of the Edomites, in the hill country of Seir. Eliphaz, Adah’s son, had sons Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. Timna, a concubine of Eliphaz, bore him Amalek. Reuel, Bashemath’s son, had sons Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. Aholibamah bore Esau Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah.

These were the chiefs among Esau’s sons. From Eliphaz, Esau’s firstborn: the chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, Korah, Gatam, and Amalek, in the land of Edom. From Reuel: the chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. From Aholibamah: the chiefs Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their chiefs.

9 And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir:

10 These are the names of Esau’s sons; Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Bashemath the wife of Esau.

11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz.

12 And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau’s son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek: these were the sons of Adah Esau’s wife.

Context #

Amalek, Esau’s grandson

Amalek, who fought Israel at Rephidim on the way from Egypt, is here a grandson of Esau.

Amalek, who fought Israel at Rephidim on the way from Egypt, is here a grandson of Esau. “Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim” (Ex. 17:8); Israel was told, “Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt” (Deut. 25:17); and the Lord said through Samuel, “I remember that which Amalek did to Israel” (1 Sam. 15:2). The Amalekites were “constantly at war with the Hebrews from the time of Moses… to Saul and David.” Genesis traces that enemy to Esau’s line.

Amalek’s mother was Timna, a concubine of Eliphaz, not a wife, and so, on one reading, Amalek “denotes a subordinate clan.” Verse 16 still counts him among the chiefs of Edom.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Amalekites (Old Testament)”, Guide to the Scriptures. Herbert E. Ryle, The Book of Genesis in the Revised Version, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge: University Press, 1921); read on Bible Hub.

13 And these are the sons of Reuel; Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah: these were the sons of Bashemath Esau’s wife.

14 And these were the sons of Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife: and she bare to Esau Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah.

15 These were dukes of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn son of Esau; duke Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kenaz,

Language #

Dukes were clan chiefs

In this chapter “duke” means a clan chief, not a title of nobility. The Hebrew is alluph, “chief (tribal) of Edom.”

In this chapter “duke” means a clan chief, not a title of nobility. The Hebrew is alluph, “chief (tribal) of Edom.” The word is connected with eleph, “thousand” or “clan.” The Septuagint translates it “chiefs.” The English “duke” came in through the Latin dux, and in older English “was not limited to the highest rank of nobility.” Webster’s 1828 dictionary still had the sense that fits here: “A chief; a prince; as the dukes of Edom. Genesis 36:15.”

Verses 15–19 list these chiefs by Esau’s sons’ clans, and verses 29–30 do the same for the Horites. The last list (40–43) names chiefs by place. The Song of Moses at the Red Sea uses the same word: “the dukes of Edom shall be amazed” (Ex. 15:15).

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint. Herbert E. Ryle, The Book of Genesis in the Revised Version, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge: University Press, 1921); read on Bible Hub. Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

16 Duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke Amalek: these are the dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these were the sons of Adah.

17 And these are the sons of Reuel Esau’s son; duke Nahath, duke Zerah, duke Shammah, duke Mizzah: these are the dukes that came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Bashemath Esau’s wife.

18 And these are the sons of Aholibamah Esau’s wife; duke Jeush, duke Jaalam, duke Korah: these were the dukes that came of Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife.

19 These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes.

Verses 20–30

The Horites of Seir

In plain words

These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who lived in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the Horite chiefs, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. Lotan’s sons were Hori and Hemam, and Lotan’s sister was Timna. Shobal’s sons were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. Zibeon’s sons were Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness while he was grazing his father Zibeon’s donkeys. Anah’s children were Dishon and Aholibamah. Dishon’s sons were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. Ezer’s sons were Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. Dishan’s sons were Uz and Aran. These were the Horite chiefs, by their clans, in the land of Seir.

20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who inhabited the land; Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah,

Context #

The Horites, who were there first

Seir was already inhabited when Esau came, and Edom took the land from the Horites.

Seir was already inhabited when Esau came, and Edom took the land from the Horites. They are already “in their mount Seir” in Abraham’s day (Gen. 14:6). Deuteronomy says what happened: “the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the Lord gave unto them” (Deut. 2:12). The Horites “were probably dwellers in holes or caverns,” and the land “passed by conquest into the possession of the descendants of Esau.” The name Chori itself is “probably = cave-dweller.”

The Edomites “subjugated the natives… and, while largely dispossessing them, also became fused with them by intermarriage and peaceful settlement.” One reading gives that as the reason the Horite families are listed in a chapter about Esau: the list includes the family of Esau’s wife Aholibamah, and the Horites “were in time fused with the descendants of Esau, and together formed the Edomites.”

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Edom”, Bible Dictionary. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. Herbert E. Ryle, The Book of Genesis in the Revised Version, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge: University Press, 1921); read on Bible Hub. Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers: Genesis, Read on Bible Hub.

21 And Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan: these are the dukes of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom.

22 And the children of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna.

23 And the children of Shobal were these; Alvan, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

24 And these are the children of Zibeon; both Ajah, and Anah: this was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father.

Language #

What Anah found

The “mules” that Anah found were probably hot springs. The Hebrew word, yemim, occurs only here, and its meaning is “dubious”: “perhaps hot springs,” which is what the Latin…

The “mules” that Anah found were probably hot springs. The Hebrew word, yemim, occurs only here, and its meaning is “dubious”: “perhaps hot springs,” which is what the Latin Vulgate (aquae calidae) has. “Mules” is “the traditional rendering of the Jews,” followed by the KJV. Jerome says that “the word in Punic, a language allied to Hebrew, means hot springs.” The Septuagint does not translate the word but treats it as a name, “Jamin.” The point of the sentence in the genealogy is to say which Anah is meant: the one who found the water in the wilderness while he “fed the asses of Zibeon his father.”

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers: Genesis, Read on Bible Hub. Herbert E. Ryle, The Book of Genesis in the Revised Version, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge: University Press, 1921); read on Bible Hub. The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint.

25 And the children of Anah were these; Dishon, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah.

26 And these are the children of Dishon; Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran.

27 The children of Ezer are these; Bilhan, and Zaavan, and Akan.

28 The children of Dishan are these; Uz, and Aran.

29 These are the dukes that came of the Horites; duke Lotan, duke Shobal, duke Zibeon, duke Anah,

30 Duke Dishon, duke Ezer, duke Dishan: these are the dukes that came of Hori, among their dukes in the land of Seir.

Verses 31–39

The kings of Edom

In plain words

These are the kings who ruled in Edom before any king ruled the Israelites. Bela son of Beor ruled, and his city was Dinhabah. When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah of Bozrah ruled in his place. When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites ruled. When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the territory of Moab, ruled; his city was Avith. Then Samlah of Masrekah, then Shaul of Rehoboth by the river, then Baal-hanan son of Achbor, each ruling after the death of the one before. Last, Hadar ruled, whose city was Pau and whose wife was Mehetabel, daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab.

31 And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.

Context #

Kings of Edom before Israel had a king

This verse looks ahead to Israel’s kings, and it is hard to say when it was written.

This verse looks ahead to Israel’s kings, and it is hard to say when it was written. Edom’s eight kings follow one another, but no son succeeds his father, and they come from different families and cities; the kingship appears not to have been hereditary. Genesis had already promised Jacob that “kings shall come out of thy loins” (Gen. 35:11), so the heading may be read in that light: Edom became a kingdom before Israel did. Edom had a king by Moses’ time (Num. 20:14), and on that reading the list is “a record relating to the Edomitish kings of a pre-Mosaic age.”

Another reading takes the heading as written after Saul: “the writer lived at a time subsequent to the foundation of the Israelite monarchy,” and the list was “probably added at the time when the Books of Samuel were composed,” by prophets “moved by the Spirit to add to what had been written.” That is consistent with how the Pentateuch came to us: Moses used “several documentary sources,” and “scribes and copyists have left their traces upon the Pentateuch as we have it today.” The text does not decide between the two readings, and neither changes what the chapter says about Edom.

Sources: Herbert E. Ryle, The Book of Genesis in the Revised Version, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge: University Press, 1921); read on Bible Hub. Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers: Genesis, Read on Bible Hub. Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. “Pentateuch”, Bible Dictionary. Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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

33 And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.

Related Scriptures #

From Bozrah to the one who comes in red

Bozrah, the home of the second king, returns in Isaiah’s picture of the Lord’s coming.

Bozrah, the home of the second king, returns in Isaiah’s picture of the Lord’s coming. It was a town southeast of the Dead Sea, “perhaps the chief Edomite city.” Isaiah names “a sacrifice in Bozrah” (Isa. 34:6), and later asks, “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?” The one coming answers, “I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save” (Isa. 63:1). In the next verse the Hebrew word for “red” (adom) sounds like “Edom,” the name Esau took from the red stew (Gen. 25:30): “Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel?” (Isa. 63:2). Latter-day revelation hears Isaiah’s question as the Lord’s own coming (D&C 133:46–48); the chapters on Isa. 34 and Isa. 63 take this up in full.

Sources: Herbert E. Ryle, The Book of Genesis in the Revised Version, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge: University Press, 1921); read on Bible Hub. Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. “Edom”, Bible Dictionary. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

34 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Temani reigned in his stead.

35 And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith.

36 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead.

37 And Samlah died, and Saul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead.

38 And Saul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.

39 And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

Verses 40–43

The chiefs by name and place

In plain words

These are the chiefs of Esau by their clans and places, each by name: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Aholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel, and Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom, by their settlements in the land they held. This is Esau, the father of the Edomites.

40 And these are the names of the dukes that came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names; duke Timnah, duke Alvah, duke Jetheth,

41 Duke Aholibamah, duke Elah, duke Pinon,

42 Duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke Mibzar,

43 Duke Magdiel, duke Iram: these be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession: he is Esau the father of the Edomites.

Seeing Christ in Genesis 36

A list of Esau’s sons names no Savior, but the name at its center leads to Him. Esau’s name “Red” became the name of a nation, and Isaiah looks to Edom, to Bozrah, and to red garments for the one who comes “mighty to save” (Isa. 63:1–2). Latter-day revelation takes this One to be the Lord at His coming, “I am he who spake in righteousness… And the Lord shall be red in his apparel” (D&C 133:46–48), and Edom, or Idumea, now stands for “the world,” on which He will come down in judgment (D&C 1:36).

Worth exploring next

Esau’s own story. Gen. 25:19–34; Gen. 26:34–35; Gen. 27:30–41; Gen. 28:6–9; and the brothers’ reunion in Gen. 32:3–21 and Gen. 33:1–16.
Edom’s place in Israel’s journey. Deut. 2:1–12 and Deut. 23:7 on Seir as Esau’s “possession” and Edom as a brother; Num. 20:14–21 on the king of Edom who refused Israel passage.
Edom in the prophets. Obad. 1:10–14; Isa. 34; Isa. 63:1–6; and D&C 133:41–53.
Sojourners who looked for a city. Heb. 11:8–16.

This chapter elsewhere in scripture

1 Chr. 1:35–54 — The same lists of Esau’s sons, the Horite families, and the kings of Edom, shortened, in Chronicles.

Sources & further reading

The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb.
Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.
“Edom”, Bible Dictionary.
“Esau”, Bible Dictionary.
“Idumea”, Bible Dictionary.
“Pentateuch”, Bible Dictionary.
“Doctrine and Covenants 133, section heading”, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Amalekites (Old Testament)”, Guide to the Scriptures.
Camille Fronk Olson, “The Matriarchs: Administrators of God’s Covenantal Blessings”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021), 385–425.
Herbert E. Ryle, The Book of Genesis in the Revised Version, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge: University Press, 1921); read on Bible Hub.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers: Genesis, Read on Bible Hub.
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.
Genesis 24–36: The Covenant Line Continues with Isaac and Jacob, Old Testament Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel (Church Educational System, 2003).

I’ve studied Genesis 36