Adah

Two women bear the name Adah. The first is one of Lamech's two wives in the Cainite genealogy; the second is one of Esau's wives in the Edomite genealogy. Both appear as mothers whose sons stand at the head of identifiable lines.

Adah Wife of Lamech

In the line of Cain, Adah is named as the first of Lamech's two wives: "And Lamech took to him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah" (Ge 4:19). Through her come the tent-dwelling pastoralists: "And Adah bore Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents and [have] cattle" (Ge 4:20). The next verse ties his brother Jubal — father of harp and pipe — to her household, with the second-wife's son Tubal-cain and his sister Naamah set in Zillah's column: "And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and pipe. And Zillah, she also bore Tubal-cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of bronze and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah" (Ge 4:21-22).

She is named again when Lamech sings his sword-song to his two wives: "And Lamech said to his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; You⁺ wives of Lamech, listen to my speech: For I have slain a man for wounding me, And a young man for bruising me" (Ge 4:23). Adah stands first in the address; the plural-you marks the song as spoken to both wives at once.

Adah Wife of Esau

The second Adah belongs to the Edomite genealogy. The chronicle of Esau opens with her: "these are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau" (Ge 36:10). Adah's son is Eliphaz, the firstborn line of Esau, and the next two verses trace her descendants further: "And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz. And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau's son; and she bore to Eliphaz Amalek: these are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife" (Ge 36:11-12). The closing tag — "these are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife" — gathers Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, Kenaz, and Amalek as her descendants, and so makes Amalek a grandson of Adah through Eliphaz and Timna.