Genesis 36
1Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom.

2Esau 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;

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

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

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

6And 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.

7For 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.

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

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

10These 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.

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

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

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

14And 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.

The prophesies concerning the end of the children of Esau are important to know who these people are today, and what is their final part in the events of the end of the age.

Obadiah 1
1The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

2Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

3The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?

4Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

5If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

6How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!

7All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.

8Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?

9And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.

10For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

11In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.

12But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.

13Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;

14Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.

15For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

16For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

17But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

18And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.

Who can these prophesies be against in the day of the Lord? Any ideas?

Isaiah 34:5
For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.

Isaiah 34:6
The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.

Ezekiel 35:15
As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel 36:5
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.

They were also called another name in antiquity,

Encyclopedia > Idumea

Edom (אֱדוֹם, Standard Hebrew Edom, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĔḏ�m) sounds like the Biblical Hebrew word for "red" and is a vividly apposite designation for the red sandstones of Edom.


'Edom' is also an alternative name for Esau according to the Hebrew Bible. The Book of Genesis mentions "red" a number of times when describing Esau and connecting that color to him:

"The first one [Esau] came out reddish (admoni in Hebrew) as hairy as a fur coat. They named him Esau." [1] (http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?A ... CHAPTER=25) (Genesis 25:25).
"Jacob was once simmering a stew, when Esau came home exhausted from the field. Esau said to Jacob, 'Give me a swallow of that reddish red (ha-adom, ha-adom [i.e. using the word ha-adom twice]) I am exhausted.' He was therefore given the name Edom ('Red' or 'Ruddy')." [2] (http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?A ... CHAPTER=25) (Genesis 25:29-30)
See also Genesis 36:

"These are the chronicles of Esau, also known as Edom...These are the chronicles of Esau, the ancestor of Edom, in the hill country of Seir...These are the sons of Esau, and these are their tribal chiefs. This is what constitutes Edom...These are the tribes of Esau, each with its own settlements in its hereditary lands. This is how Esau was the ancestor of the Edomites." [3] (http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?A ... CHAPTER=36) (Genesis 36).
Thus how Esau gained the name Edom is explained in the Book of Genesis commencing with his reddish hairy body at birth, the strange symbolic hurried eating of Jacob's red stew (for which he sold his birthright of being the first-born) which the narrative attaches to his name, and the descriptions of him and his descendants connecting Esau with Edom inextricably and calling them Edomites. Later they were called Idumeans in Roman times.


The land of Edom is also called the land of Seir in which the descendants of Esau settled, displacing the Horites, and the Edomites are the people of the nation they formed there.


The land of Edom is generally believed to be the hill country immediately to the east of Wadi Arabah, which is today part of the Kingdom of Jordan as well as northern Saudi Arabia.


Later in Jewish history, it was the Roman Empire that came to be identified with Esau and "Edom" because of their reliance on the symbolism of red in their banners and standards and with their ruthless "bloody" reign in Judea as experienced by the people of Judea.


The land of Edom was known as Idumea in Roman times. See Antipater the Idumaean


See also: Edomite language

Categories: Ancient Peoples | Torah places | Torah people

What could the meaning of this verse be?

Obadiah 1:21
And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD's.