It was now very clear to Esau that his father did not like the local Canaanite women.
Parallel translations
- WEB Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn’t please Isaac, his father.
- KJV And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father;
- BSB And seeing that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women,
- NKJV Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac.
- NASB So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac;
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Esau realizes that his Canaanite wives do not please his father Isaac.
Overview
Coming late to this awareness, Esau perceives that the Canaanite women he had married were a grief to his parents. His insight is genuine but shallow—concerned more with parental approval than with the covenant convictions behind it. This sets up his misguided remedy in marrying within Ishmael's line rather than truly aligning with God's purposes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Gen 24:3I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live.
- Gen 26:34–35When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
- Gen 28:1Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
- 1 Sam 8:6But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” Samuel prayed to Yahweh.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 28:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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