These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites:
Parallel translations
- WEB These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the children of Israel.
- KJV And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.
- NKJV Now these were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Israel:
- NASB Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the sons of Israel.
- NLT These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before any king ruled over the Israelites:
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
This introduces the kings of Edom who reigned before Israel had any king. It notes Edom developed monarchy earlier than Israel.
Overview
Edom established kingship before Israel did, a fact the narrator points out deliberately. This reflects Isaac's blessing that Esau would gain earthly dominion (Genesis 27:40), while Israel's path to monarchy came later and through God's appointed time. The note also looks ahead to Israel's eventual kings, and ultimately to Christ, the true King in David's line, whose kingdom outlasts every earthly throne.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Gen 17:6I will make you exceedingly fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you.
- Gen 17:16And I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will descend from her.”
- 1 Chr 1:43–50These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites: Bela son of Beor. His city was named Dinhabah.
- Num 24:17–18I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth.
- Deut 17:14–20When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”
- Deut 33:5So the LORD became King in Jeshurun when the leaders of the people gathered, when the tribes of Israel came together.
- Gen 25:23and He declared to her: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”
- Num 20:14From 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,
- Deut 33:29Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is the shield that protects you, the sword in which you boast. Your enemies will cower before you, and you shall trample their high places.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 36:31 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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