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.
World English Bible
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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.
World English Bible
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
This one is a three-way tangle. The Hebrew Bible narrates polygamy without condemnation across patriarchs, judges, and kings — Abraham, Jacob, Gideon, David, Solomon, Rehoboam all pile up wives.
Critical scholarship: Leans toward reconciliation.
Law & ethics
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
Genesis 26:34 names Esau's wife Bashemath as the daughter of Elon the Hittite. Genesis 36:2-3 names Esau's wife Bashemath as the daughter of Ishmael.
Critical scholarship: Widely regarded as a genuine contradiction.
Genealogy
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
Each section sets the viewpoints side by side; you weigh the evidence. Here, "critical scholarship" means academic study, not a value judgment. How this is built →
Within each section, grouped by shared field or question type — not a cross-section comparison.
This citation refers to this GEBible page — the verse and the analysis gathered here. To cite the underlying scholarship, cite those sources directly.
"Genesis 26:34 — Scripture Analysis" GEBible, https://gebible.app/analysis/verse/genesis/26/34?version=WEB (retrieved 27 August 2026).