Mahalath was the third mentioned wife of Esau

Esau

Esau , in the Hebrew Bible, is the oldest son of Isaac. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and by the minor prophets, Obadiah and Malachi. The New Testament later references him in the Book of Romans and the Book of Hebrews....

, a daughter of Ishmael

Ishmael

Ishmael is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, and was Abraham's first born child according to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Ishmael was born of Abraham's marriage to Sarah's handmaiden Hagar...

 and sister of Nebajoth. Esau took Mahalath from the house of Ishmael to be his wife, after seeing that his Canaanite

Canaan

Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...

 wives displeased his father, Isaac

Isaac

Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...

 . It has been proposed by some biblical scholars that Mahalath is another name for Esau's wife Basemath who is mentioned in Genesis 36; J.B. Phillips suggests that Esau changed the names of his Hittite wives as a way of pacifying his parents for the grief he caused them when he married Canaanite women, since he had two wives in his life called Basemath, he had to change the Ishmaelite's name, of which he chose: Mahalath.