Person
Esau
Isaac's elder son who despised his birthright (Heb 12:16); father of Edom, Israel's perennial neighbor and adversary.
Biography
Key Data
- Era
- Patriarchs
Esau in Scripture
89 verses use this name, in 9 books. Open a book to read its mentions here. Text: Berean Standard Bible. Names repeat in Scripture — some of these verses may speak of another person called Esau.
First namedGenesis 25:25The first one came out red, covered with hair like a fur coat; so they named him Esau.Last namedHebrews 12:16See to it that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright.
Old Testament7 books · 86 mentions
Genesis67 mentions
- Genesis 25:25The first one came out red, covered with hair like a fur coat; so they named him Esau.
- Genesis 25:26After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.
- Genesis 25:27When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.
- Genesis 25:28Because Isaac had a taste for wild game, he loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
- Genesis 25:29One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the field and was famished.
62 further mentions in Genesis — read them in the book.
Deuteronomy6 mentions
- Deuteronomy 2:4and command the people: ‘You will pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful.
- Deuteronomy 2:5Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his possession.
- Deuteronomy 2:8So we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber, and traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab.
- Deuteronomy 2:12The Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land that the LORD gave them as their possession.)
- Deuteronomy 2:22just as He had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day.
1 further mention in Deuteronomy — read them in the book.
Joshua1 mention
1 Chronicles2 mentions
Jeremiah2 mentions
- Jeremiah 49:8Turn and run! Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan, for I will bring disaster on Esau at the time I punish him.
- Jeremiah 49:10But I will strip Esau bare; I will uncover his hiding places, and he will be unable to conceal himself. His descendants will be destroyed along with his relatives and neighbors, and he will be no more.
Obadiah6 mentions
- Obadiah 1:6But how Esau will be pillaged, his hidden treasures sought out!
- Obadiah 1:8In that day, declares the LORD, will I not destroy the wise men of Edom and the men of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
- Obadiah 1:9Then your mighty men, O Teman, will be terrified, so that everyone in the mountains of Esau will be cut down in the slaughter.
- Obadiah 1:18Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire, and the house of Joseph a burning flame; but the house of Esau will be stubble— Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it. Therefore no survivor will remain from the house of Esau.” For the LORD has spoken.
- Obadiah 1:19Those from the Negev will possess the mountains of Esau; those from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
1 further mention in Obadiah — read them in the book.
Malachi2 mentions
New Testament2 books · 3 mentions
Named alongside
Other people MannaFest has a page for whose name the text uses in Genesis 25, Genesis 27, Genesis 28, Genesis 32, Genesis 33, Genesis 36, Deuteronomy 2 and Obadiah 1 (the chapters where this name lands most often). Each card shows the verse it came from. Scripture reuses names freely, so a page behind a name here may belong to another person who shares it.
JacobThe heel-grasping supplanter reshaped at Peniel into 'Israel, he who strives with God' — father of the twelve tribes.Genesis 25:26After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.
IsaacThe son of promise and of laughter — bound on Moriah, the quiet inheritor of the covenant.Genesis 25:5Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac.
AbrahamCalled out of Ur, the father of all who believe, justified by faith, and the friend of God through whose seed all natio…Genesis 25:1Now Abraham had taken another wife, named Keturah,
RebekahIsaac's bride, drawn from Abraham's kindred by providence (ch.Genesis 25:20and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.
IshmaelAbraham's son by Hagar — blessed and made a great nation, but not the covenant heir; Paul's figure of the flesh (Gal 4:…Genesis 25:9His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite.
KorahThe Kohathite Levite who led two hundred fifty princes against Moses and Aaron — "ye take too much upon you" — and was…Genesis 36:5and Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.
Studies that meet Esau
These studies quote a verse that names Esau.
Jacob Have I Loved — the Election ThreadGenesis 27:36Jacob's Ladder — Genesis 28Genesis 28:5Obadiah — the Study GuideObadiah 1:6
Studies working in the same chapters3
These do not quote a verse naming Esau; they open other passages in the same chapters.