Person Old Testament
Adah
Also known as Basemath =ESV, NIV; Bashemath =KJV
Adah, also known as Basemath, was one of Esau's Hittite wives and the mother of Eliphaz, who became a chief in the land of Edom. Mentioned in 6 verses across 1 book, first at Genesis 26:34.
Why it matters. Hittite wife of Esau; mother of Eliphaz
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Adah
Adah, also referred to as Basemath, was one of the wives of Esau, the son of Isaac and Rebekah. She was a Hittite, the daughter of Elon (Gen.36.2; 26.34). Esau's marriage to Hittite women was a source of grief for his parents (Gen.26.34-35).
Adah gave birth to Eliphaz, who became one of the chiefs in the land of Edom (Gen.36.4,10). Eliphaz had several sons, including Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz, who also became chiefs in Edom (Gen.36.11-12,15-16).
In the genealogy of Esau, Adah is mentioned alongside Esau's other wives, Oholibamah and Basemath, the daughter of Ishmael (Gen.36.2-3). However, there is some confusion regarding the names of Esau's wives, as Basemath is also referred to as the daughter of Elon the Hittite (Gen.26.34), suggesting that Adah and Basemath may be two names for the same person.
Adah's role in the narrative is primarily as the mother of Eliphaz and an ancestor of the Edomites. Her Hittite origin underscores Esau's willingness to marry outside of the family lineage, in contrast to the endogamous marriages of Isaac and Israel (or 'Jacob').
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
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Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
Appears in Scripture
Named in 6 verses across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.