Esau in the Bible

And the first came out red all over like a hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.

And after that came his brother out; and his hand took hold of Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

And the boys grew, and Esau became a man skilled in hunting, a man of the field; and Jacob was a homely man, dwelling in tents.

And Isaac loved Esau, because venison was to his taste; and Rebecca loved Jacob.

And Jacob had cooked a dish; and Esau came from the field, and he was faint.

And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with the red the red thing there, for I am faint. Therefore was his name called Edom.

And Esau said, Behold, I am going to die, and of what use can the birthright be to me?

But Jacob said, "Swear an oath to me now." So Esau swore an oath to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.

And Jacob gave Esau bread and the dish of lentils; and he ate and drank, and rose up and went away. Thus Esau despised the birthright.

And Esau was forty years old, when he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basmath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

And it came to pass when Isaac had become old, and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, that he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, My son! And he said to him, Here am I.

And Rebecca heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt venison, to bring it.

And Rebecca spoke to Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak to Esau thy brother, saying,

And Jacob said to Rebecca his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.

And Rebecca took the clothes of her elder son Esau, the costly ones which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son;

And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, thy firstborn. I have done according as thou didst say to me. Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, in order that thy soul may bless me.

And Isaac said to Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be really my son Esau or not.

And Jacob drew near to Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

And he did not discern him, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands; and he blessed him.

And he said, Art thou really my son Esau? And he said, It is I.

And it came to pass when Isaac had ended blessing Jacob, and when Jacob was only just gone out from Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came from his hunting.

Esau also made a delicious dish [of meat] and brought it to his father and said to him, “Let my father get up and eat some of his son’s game, so that you may bless me.”

And Isaac his father said to him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn, Esau.

When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me me also, my father!

Esau replied, “Is he not rightly named Jacob (the supplanter)? For he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing. Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

And Isaac answered and said to Esau, Behold, I have made him lord over thee, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants, and with corn and new wine have I supplied him and what can I do now for thee, my son?

And Esau said to his father, Hast thou then but one blessing, my father? bless me me also, my father! And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand, and I will slay my brother Jacob.

And the words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebecca. And she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, comforts himself that he will kill thee.

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth [these insolent wives of Esau]. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

And Isaac sent away Jacob; and he went to Padan-Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebecca, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padan-Aram, to take a wife thence, blessing him, and giving him a charge saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;

And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the sight of Isaac his father.

And Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.

And Jacob sent messengers before his face to Esau his brother, into the land of Seir, the fields of Edom.

And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak to my lord, to Esau: Thy servant Jacob speaks thus With Laban have I sojourned and tarried until now;

And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother, to Esau; and he also is coming to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

And he said, If Esau come to the one troop and smite it, then the other troop which is left shall escape.

Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, and the mother with the children.

And he lodged there that night; and took of what came to his hand a gift for Esau his brother --

And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meets thee, and asks thee, saying, Whose art thou, and where goest thou, and whose are these before thee?

then thou shalt say, Thy servant Jacob's: it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.

And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, According to this word shall ye speak to Esau when ye find him.

You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I want to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will forgive me.”

And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. And he distributed the children to Leah, and to Rachel, and to the two maidservants:

Then he went out to meet Esau, passing in front of all of them, and bowed low to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept.

Then Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children and said, "Who [are] these with you?" And he said, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant."

Esau said, "What do you mean by all this company which I met?" Jacob said, "To find favor in the sight of my lord."

And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; let what thou hast be thine.

So receive my blessing, which has been sent to you, since God has been gracious to me. Besides, I have enough." Because Jacob kept pressing him, Esau accepted the gifts.

Esau said, "Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before you."

And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the people that are with me. And he said, What need? Let me find favour in the eyes of my lord.

And Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

And God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar unto the God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

And Isaac expired and died, and was gathered to his peoples, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

And these are the generations of Esau, that is Edom.

Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon the Hivite,

And Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz; and Basmath bore Reuel.

And Oholibamah bore Jeush and Jaalam and Korah. These are the sons of Esau that were born to him in the land of Canaan.

And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his possessions, that he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went into a country away from his brother Jacob.

Thus Esau dwelt in mount Seir; Esau is Edom.

And these are the generations of Esau, the father of Edom, in mount Seir.

These are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz, the son of Adah the wife of Esau; Reuel, the son of Basmath the wife of Esau.

And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau's son, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These are the sons of Adah Esau's wife.

And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These are the sons of Basmath Esau's wife.

And these are the sons of Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife: and she bore to Esau Jeush and Jaalam and Korah.

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,

And these are the sons of Reuel Esau's son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah: these are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basmath Esau's wife.

And these are the sons of Oholibamah Esau's wife: chief Jeush, chief Jaalam, chief Korah; these are the chiefs of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife.

These are the sons of Esau, and these their chiefs: he is Edom.

The children of Anah are these: Dishon and Oholibamah [Esau’s wife], the daughter of Anah.

And these are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their families, after their places, with their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth,

chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom, according to their dwelling-places in the land of their possession. This is Esau, the father of Edom.

And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore:

Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.

And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Eziongaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

The Horims also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but 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.

As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day:

(As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us.

“You shall not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother [Esau’s descendant]. You shall not detest an Egyptian, because you were a stranger (resident alien, foreigner) in his land.

And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.

Abraham fathered Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel.

The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

Flee ye turn go down deep to dwell, O inhabitant of Dedan, - For the doom of Esau, have I brought in upon him The time of his visitation.

But, I, have stripped Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, And to conceal himself, shall he not be able! Spoiled, are his seed, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.

Because you [descendants of Esau] have had an everlasting hatred [for Jacob (Israel)] and you handed over the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their tragedy, at the time of their final punishment [the Babylonian conquest],

Thus says the Lord,
“For three transgressions of Edom [the descendants of Esau] and for four (multiplied delinquencies)
I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,
Because he pursued his brother Jacob (Israel) with the sword,
Corrupting and stifling his compassions and casting off all mercy;
His destructive anger raged continually,
And he maintained [and nurtured] his wrath forever.

Thus says the Lord,
“For three transgressions of Moab and for four (multiplied delinquencies)
I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,
Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom [Esau’s descendant] into lime [and used it to plaster a Moabite house].

How hath Esau been searched out! Flowed out have his hidden things,

Is it not in that day -- an affirmation of Jehovah, That I have destroyed the wise out of Edom, And understanding out of the mount of Esau?

And broken down have been thy mighty ones, O Teman, So that every one of the mount of Esau is cut off.

And the house of Jacob hath been a fire, And the house of Joseph a flame, And the house of Esau for stubble, And they have burned among them, And they have consumed them, And there is not a remnant to the house of Esau, For Jehovah hath spoken.

And they have possessed the south with the mount of Esau, And the low country with the Philistines, And they have possessed the field of Ephraim, And the field of Samaria, And Benjamin with Gilead.

And gone up have saviours on mount Zion, To judge the mount of Esau, And the kingdom hath been to Jehovah!'

"I have loved you," says Yahweh, but you say, "How have you loved us?" "[Is] Esau not Jacob's brother?" {declares} Yahweh. "I have loved Jacob,

but Esau I have hated. I have made his mountain ranges a desolation, and [given] his inheritance to the jackals of [the] desert."