Dumah is a name that belongs to two different kinds of entry in the Bible. In Genesis 25 and 1 Chronicles 1 it sits in the list of Ishmael’s sons, between Mishma and Massa. In Joshua 15:52 it is a town in the hill country of Judah, set among a run of places like Arab and Eshean. The verses give no story about either, only the name in its place. The lists still serve a purpose, because they show how thoroughly Scripture records each family and settlement. Genesis 25:12-16 is where to start.
3 verses
And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,
Arab, and Dumah, and Eshean,
Mishma, and Dumah, Massa, Hadad, and Tema,
Matthew George Easton, 1897
Silence, (comp. Ps. 94:17), the fourth son of Ishmael; also the tribe descended from him; and hence also the region in Arabia which they inhabited (Gen. 25:14; 1 Chr. 1:30).
There was also a town of this name in Judah (Josh. 15:52), which has been identified with ed-Domeh, about 10 miles southwest of Hebron. The place mentioned in the “burden” of the prophet Isaiah (21:11) is Edom or Idumea.
William Smith, 1884
(silence).
(1.) A son of Ishmael, most probably the founder of the Ishmaelite tribe of Arabia, and thence the name of the principal place of district inhabited by that tribe. (Genesis 25:14; 1 Chronicles 1:30; Isaiah 21:11)
(2.) A city in the mountainous district of Judah, near Hebron, (Joshua 15:52) represented by the ruins of a village called ed-Daumeh , six miles southwest of Hebron.