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Genesis 25:30

in Genesis 25

He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am famished.” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

and Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.

KJV

And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.

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This verse in Genesis 25

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Hebrew Questions on Genesis · Written before 420.

(Verse 30) And Esau said to Jacob: Give me a taste of that red stew, for I am famished. That is why he was called Edom. Red or tawny is called Edom in the Hebrew language. Therefore, from the fact that he sold his birthright for red food, he obtained the name Edom, which means tawny.

This site's exposition

while Jacob was cooking some stew

on Genesis 25:29-30

Jacob has the pot on when Esau comes in from the field famished. The older writers divide over whether that was accident or waiting. Esau asks for the food by its colour, that red stew, and says nothing about what is in it. The name Edom is fixed from that sentence, and Obadiah's whole book is one oracle against the nation it becomes.

This site's exposition

Let me eat some of that red stew

Jerome derived Edom from the Hebrew word for red. Adam Clarke took Esau as truly famished, a man who would have died without food. Matthew Henry answered that he could have eaten far cheaper than his birthright.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

SERMONS ON THE LITURGICAL SEASONS 207.2 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

Let frugality be joined to fasting. Just as overeating is to be censured, so stimulants of the appetite must be eliminated. It is not that certain kinds of food are to be detested but that bodily pleasure is to be checked. Esau was censured not for having desired a fat calf or plump birds but for having coveted a dish of lentils.

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

(3.) The gratifying of the sensual appetite is that which ruins thousands of precious souls: surely, if Esau was hungry and faint, he might have got a meal's meat cheaper than at the expense of his birthright; but he was unaccountably fond of the colour of this pottage, and could not deny himself the satisfaction of a mess of it, whatever it cost him.
And Esau said to Jacob, feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Marriage is not forbidden to old age. By her he had six sons, in whom the promise made to Abraham concerning the great increase of his posterity was in part fulfilled, which, it is likely, he had an eye to this marriage. The strength he received by the promise still remained in him, to show how much the virtue of the promise exceeds the power of nature.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

I am faint - It appears from the whole of this transaction, that Esau was so completely exhausted by fatigue that he must have perished had he not obtained some immediate refreshment. He had been either hunting or laboring in the field, and was now returning for the purpose of getting some food, but had been so exhausted that his strength utterly failed before he had time to make the necessary preparations.

The words behind it

18 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

11 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Genesis 32:3Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.5 worksGenesis 30:14Now during the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother, Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”4 worksJeremiah 49:7Concerning Edom, this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom decayed?4 worksDeuteronomy 23:7Do not despise an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.3 worksGenesis 36:1This is the account of Esau (that is, Edom).3 worksExodus 15:15Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; those who dwell in Canaan will melt away,3 works
The other 5 cross-references, with their words ▾
Numbers 20:14–21From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to tell the king of Edom, “This is what your brother Israel says: You know all the hardship that has befallen us,3 worksGenesis 36:9This is the account of Esau, the father of the Edomites, in the area of Mount Seir.3 works2 Kings 8:20In the days of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against the hand of Judah and appointed their own king.3 worksGenesis 36:43Magdiel, and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they possessed. Esau was the father of the Edomites.3 worksEzekiel 32:29Edom is there, and all her kings and princes, who despite their might are laid among those slain by the sword. They lie down with the uncircumcised, with those who descend to the Pit.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 23:7

    Do not despise an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 22:21

      You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

    • Deuteronomy 10:19

      So you also must love the foreigner, since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

    • Leviticus 19:34

      You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    • Exodus 23:9

      Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

    • Genesis 25:24–26

      When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb.

  • Through

    Genesis 36:1

    This is the account of Esau (that is, Edom).

    it leads to

    • Genesis 22:17

      I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

  • Through

    Exodus 15:15

    Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; those who dwell in Canaan will melt away,

    it leads to

    • Joshua 5:1

      Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until…

    • Joshua 2:9

      and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who dwell in the land are melting…

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

The Tower of Babel, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563. Public domain.
The Tower of Babel, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563. Public domain.
Genesis: the study guide →Read Genesis 25 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, SERMONS ON THE LITURGICAL SEASONS 207.2; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Genesis 25 →