Pau

Pau (also written Pai in 1 Chronicles 1:50, meaning bleating or screaming) was the royal city of Hadar (or Hadad), the last-named of the eight kings of Edom who reigned before any king ruled over Israel (Genesis 36:39). The city thus belonged to the pre-monarchic period of Edomite history, contemporary with the patriarchal era or the time of the judges.

Beyond its identification as a royal Edomite city, Pau is not located with certainty on the ancient landscape. No significant events beyond the mention of Hadar's reign are associated with it, and the city appears to have had little subsequent history in the biblical record. The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 1:50 preserves the variant spelling Pai. The parallel lists of Edomite kings in Genesis 36 and 1 Chronicles 1 represent one of the earliest examples of king-list conventions in biblical literature.