Pai

Pai is a city in Edom, named as the seat of the Edomite king Hadad. It appears once under this spelling in the Chronicler's list of Edomite kings, and a second time under the variant form Pau in the parallel list in Genesis.

The City of Hadad in Chronicles

The Chronicler's roster of the kings who reigned in Edom names the city in connection with Hadad's accession: "And Baal-hanan died, and Hadad reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Pai: and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab" (1Ch 1:50). The verse identifies the city as Hadad's royal seat and ties it to a household — the queen Mehetabel and her three-generation lineage.

The Genesis Parallel: Pau

The Genesis list of Edomite kings supplies the same verse-pattern with one variant spelling: "And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadad reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab" (Ge 36:39). The city, the king, the queen, and the queen's lineage are all the same; only the form of the city's name differs — Pau in Genesis, Pai in Chronicles.