This page was migrated in July 2022 from my older website, biblicalambiguities.net.
23 July 2022 *Navigate 'up' to the Genesis index: index-genesis.
The text below is adapted from the ASV.
1 Now these are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). 2 Esau took his wives from among the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, 3 and Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. 4 And Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz, and Basemath bore Reuel, 5 and Oholibamah bore Jeus, and Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to 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 livestock, and all his animals, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of Canaan, and went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 7 For their riches were too great for them to dwell together, and the land of their sojournings could not support them on account of their livestock. 8 And Esau dwelt in Mount Seir; Esau is Edom.
9 And these are the generations of Esau the father of Edom 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 Basemath the wife of Esau. 11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 And Timna was a concubine to Eliphaz, Esau's son, and she bore to Eliphaz Amalek. These are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife.
13 And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sons of Adah, Esau's wife.
14 And these were the daughters of Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife: and she bore to Esau Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah.
15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, 16 chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek. These are the chiefs that came from Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah.
17 And these are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs that came from Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife.
18 And these are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah. These are the sons of Esau, and these are their chiefs. He is Edom.
20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah, 21 and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan. These are the chiefs who came from the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom. 22 And the children of Lotan were Hori and Heman, and Lotan's sister was Timna. 23 And these are the children of Shobal: Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho and Onam. 24 And these are the children of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father. 25 And these are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26 And these are the children of Dishan: Hemdan and Eshban and Ithran and Cheran. 27 These are the children of Ezer: Bilhan and Zaavan and Akan. 28 These are the children of Dishan: Uz and Aran.
29 These are the chiefs who came of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, 30 chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan. These are the chiefs who came from the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.
31 And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites. 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 place. 34 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. 35 And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who struck Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his place, and the name of his city was Avith. 36 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 37 And Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the River reigned in his place. 38 And Shaul died, and Baal Hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place. 39 And Baal Hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place, and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me Zahab.
40 And these are the names of the chiefs that came from Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth, 41 chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, 42 chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, 43 chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession. This is Esau, the father of Edom.
(36:7) "riches". This is a reversion to the KJV's wording, as opposed to the ASV's "substance", which seems unnecessarily difficult for readers.
(36:11) "Zepho". 1 Chronicles 1:36 reads, "Zephi".
(36:22) "Heman". 1 Chronicles 1:39 reads, "Homam".
(36:23) "Alvan". 1 Chronicles 1:40 reads, "Alian".
(36:23) "Shepho". 1 Chronicles 1:40 reads, "Shephi".
(36:26) "Dishan". This must be a scribal error for the "Dishon" of verse 21. See the note below on the sons of Seir.
(36:25) "Anah". This must be the Anah of verse 20, not the Anah of verse 24. See the note below on the sons of Seir.
(36:26) "Hemdan". 1 Chronicles 1:40 reads, "Hamran".
(36:27) "Akan". 1 Chronicles 1:42 reads, "Jaakan".
(36:31) "before any king reigned over the Israelites". This statement clearly places the author after the establishment of the Israelite monarchy, and thus rules out any suggestion that the book of Genesis was completed in the second millennium BCE.
(36:37) "Shaul". In the Hebrew, this is the same as the name commonly translated "Saul".
(36:39) "Hadar". 1 Chronicles 1:50 reads, "Hadad".
(36:39) "Pau". 1 Chronicles 1:50 reads, "Pai".
(36:40) "Alvah". 1 Chronicles 1:51 reads, "Aliah".
The section on the sons of Seir, or chiefs of the Horites, begins and ends with a list of the same seven names, whether in verses 20-21 or 29-30. That is, Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. In between, we are given seven lists of sons: the sons of Lotan, Shobal, Anah, Dishan, Ezer, and Dishan. The names in between vary from the beginning and end lists only in that "Dishon" disappears and "Dishan" is mentioned twice. Thus, that the seven men with sons in the middle must be the same as the seven men listed at the beginning and end. The "Dishan" of verse 26 must then be a mistake: this is where Dishon should be listed.
Because the list of men whose sons are named so neatly, with the exception of one vowel, replicates the list of "sons of Seir" and the list of "chiefs of the Horites", we may conclude that the "Anah" of verse 25 is to be identified with the "Anah" of 20 and 29, and not with the Anah of verse 24, who found hot springs. Likewise, we should conclude that the Dishon of verse 25 does not have his children listed in 26 or 28.
ASV. The American Standard Version of the Bible, as printed in 1901 by Thomas Nelson and Sons.
KJV. The famous King James, or Authorised, Version.
This page is released under the CC0 1.0 license.