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Genesis 36 · a question people ask

Why are Esau's wives named differently here than in chapters 26 and 28?

In the text

Earlier Genesis names Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite (26:34), and later Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, "the sister of Nebaioth" (28:9). Chapter 36 names Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite; Oholibamah, daughter of Anah; and Basemath, "Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebaioth" (36:2-3). Two of the fathers match (Elon; Ishmael, with Nebaioth), and the name Basemath appears in both lists but with a different father. Genesis doesn't say whether these are the same women under other names, and it doesn't explain the difference.

The verses

“When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.”
Genesis 26:34 · World English Bible
“So Esau went to Ishmael, and took, in addition to the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.”
Genesis 28:9 · World English Bible
“Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon, the Hittite; and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, the Hivite; and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebaioth.”
Genesis 36:2-3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Genesis 36

Genesis 36: Esau is Edom

Genesis gives Esau, who is Edom, a full record: his wives, sons and chiefs, the Horites who lived in Seir, and eight kings who reigned in Edom "before any king reigned over the children of Israel." The Bible's first use of the verb reign is here, and Amalek, the name of Israel's later enemy, is first the name of Esau's grandson.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions