Pau
Pau is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Transjordan in modern-day Israel. Known today as Wadi Fai. It appears across 2 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Pau (also spelled Pai in 1 Chronicles 1:50) was the royal city of Hadar (or Hadad), the last king of Edom listed before any Israelite king ruled (Genesis 36:39; 1 Chronicles 1:50). Pau appears in the concluding section of the Edomite king list, which enumerates eight kings who reigned in Edom "before any king reigned over the Israelites" (Genesis 36:31). The text identifies Hadar's wife as Mehetabel, daughter of Matred, daughter of Me-zahab, providing an unusually detailed genealogy that suggests political significance. The Edomite king list in Genesis 36 is remarkable for its non-dynastic succession: each king came from a different city, suggesting an elective or rotational monarchy rather than hereditary rule. Pau's inclusion as the final capital in this sequence positions it at the transition point between Edom's independent kingship and the era of Israelite monarchy. The Edomite kingdom, descended from Esau (Genesis 36:1), maintained a complex relationship with Israel throughout biblical history, alternating between kinship and conflict as both nations traced their ancestry to Isaac.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The identification of Pau remains uncertain. Some scholars have tentatively connected it with Wadi Fai in the Transjordanian highlands east of the Dead Sea, within the traditional territory of Edom. Others have suggested locations in the Edomite heartland of the Shara mountains in southern Jordan. The difficulty of identification reflects the broader challenge of correlating the Genesis 36 king list with archaeological evidence from Edom. Excavations at major Edomite sites such as Buseirah (biblical Bozrah), Tawilan, and Umm el-Biyara have revealed substantial Iron Age occupation but have not produced evidence specifically linking any site to Pau. Ongoing survey work in the Jordanian highlands continues to map the network of Iron Age settlements that constituted the Edomite kingdom.
Verse Appearances (2)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]