The Fallible Synthetic Study Bible — 1 Chronicles 1:28

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1 Chronicles 1:28–34 — The Descendants of Abraham. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

All nations but the seed of Abraham are already shaken off from this genealogy. Not that we conclude, no particular persons of any other nation but this found favour with God; multitudes will be brought to heaven out of every nation, and we may hope there were many, very many people in the world, whose names were in the book of life, though they did not spring from the loins of Abraham.

Benson is reading the genealogy pastorally, against the grain of its own exclusions; note that he offers this as hope, not as a doctrine of salvation outside the covenant.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

Isaac, though younger than Ishmael, is placed first, as the legitimate heir, since Sarah alone was Abraham's true wife

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

In 1 Chronicles 1:28 only Isaac and Ishmael are so called; Isaac first, as the son of the promise.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

To note each clear instance of this kind will guard us against inferring, in cases not clear, anything positive, one way or the other, respecting seniority merely from order.

A methodological warning worth keeping in view for the rest of the chapter: Pulpit is refusing to let order become evidence where the text does not make it so.

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The sons of Abraham were Isaac and Ishmael.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

bə·nê ’aḇ·rā·hām yiṣ·ḥāq wə·yiš·mā·‘êl

Word by word4 · parsed

בְּנֵי֙bə·nêThe sonsH1121

√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct

bên: a son, in the widest sense (construct plural) H1121 covers literal sons, grandsons, subjects, whole nations. That elasticity is the engine of this entire chapter: the same word will mean a man in v. 28 and a desert tribe in v. 30 without changing form. The chronicler is writing peoples, not households.

אַבְרָהָ֔ם’aḇ·rā·hāmof AbrahamH85

√ ʼAbrâhâm — Abraham, the later name of AbramNounpropermasculine singular

יִצְחָ֖קyiṣ·ḥāq[were] IsaacH3327

√ Yitschâq — Jitschak (or Isaac), son of AbrahamNounpropermasculine singular

Yitschâq: Isaac, son of Abraham Named before the firstborn, and named again at v. 34 after every other line is cleared away. Pulpit warns that order in these lists may follow age or importance and is then reversed to let the writer clear the less important out of his way, which is exactly what happens: Ishmael is listed first (vv. 29 to 31) and Keturah's sons next, so that Isaac can be picked up last and carried forward.

וְיִשְׁמָעֵֽאל׃סwə·yiš·mā·‘êland IshmaelH3458

√ Yishmâʻêʼl — Jishmael, the name of Abraham's oldest son, and of five IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

Yishmâʻêʼl: Jishmael, Abraham's oldest son Benson reads the whole verse as a shaking off: all nations but the seed of Abraham are already gone from the register. Yet Ishmael is not dropped. He is given three full verses and twelve names before the narrowing resumes, which is the chronicler's habit of honouring a promise he is not following.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Sons-of Abraham: Isaac and-Ishmael. [ס]

Where the English smooths the original

בְּנֵי֙ בְּנֵי֙ (bə·nê, H1121) is a masculine plural construct: “sons-of,” a chain that cannot stand alone. Hebrew here has no verb at all. BSB supplies “were” to make an English sentence; the Hebrew is a bare heading, a label nailed over the next thirty-four verses rather than a statement about the past.
יִצְחָ֖ק יִצְחָ֖ק (yiṣ·ḥāq, H3327) stands first with no word marking priority. English word order carries no weight for a reader; Hebrew list order does. Barnes says Isaac, though younger than Ishmael, is placed first as the legitimate heir; K&D say Isaac first, as the son of the promise. The claim is made by position only, and the very next verse will call Ishmael the firstborn.
וְיִשְׁמָעֵֽאל׃ס וְיִשְׁמָעֵֽאל׃ס carries two things English drops: the conjunctive waw (“and-Ishmael,” binding the two names into one breath rather than a comma list) and the trailing ס, the scribal setumah marker that closes the paragraph. The Masoretes heard a full stop here; the printed English page shows nothing.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Before a personal name the term Tôldôth denotes the “births,” i.e., the posterity of the man, and the history of him and his descendants. Before the name of a thing Tôldôth signifies origin, beginnings ( Genesis 2:4 ). The Hebrew expression sēfer tôldôth answers to the βίβλος γενέσως of Matthew 1:1

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

As Shem was reserved until after Japheth and Ham 1 Chronicles 1:5-16 , because in him the genealogy was to be continued ( Genesis 10:2 note), so Isaac is now reserved until the other lines of descent from Abraham have been completed.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

The great northern desert of Arabia, including the entire neck, was colonized by these tribes; and if we can recover, in the modern geography of this part of the country, Arab tribes bearing the names of those patriarchs, that is, names corresponding with those preserved in the original catalogue of Scripture, we obtain at once so many evidences, not of mere similarity, but of absolute identification [Forster].

JFB is leaning on Forster's Historical Geography of Arabia, a nineteenth century identification programme that later scholarship has not sustained in every detail. The general persistence of the names is better founded than the one-to-one matches.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The Descent of the Ishmaelite Tribes from Abraham (= Genesis 25:12-16 ) 29 . Nebajoth ] Cp. Isaiah 60:7

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These are their genealogies: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’êl·leh tō·lə·ḏō·w·ṯām nə·ḇā·yō·wṯ bə·ḵō·wr yiš·mā·‘êl wə·qê·ḏār wə·’aḏ·bə·’êl ū·miḇ·śām

Word by word8 · parsed

אֵ֖לֶּה’êl·lehThese [are]H428

√ ʼêl-leh — these or thosePronouncommon plural

תֹּלְדוֹתָ֑םtō·lə·ḏō·w·ṯāmtheir genealogiesH8435

√ tôwlᵉdâh — (plural only) descent, iNounfeminine plural constructthird person masculine plural

tôwlᵉdâh: (plural only) descent, generations The structural keyword of the Pentateuch, borrowed here. Ellicott makes the load-bearing observation: the Hebrew phrase sēfer tôldôth answers to the Greek opening of Matthew 1:1. The form is plural only because generation is never a single event; it is the accumulating record of a promise being carried by bodies.

נְבָי֔וֹתnə·ḇā·yō·wṯNebaiothH5032

√ Nᵉbâyôwth — Nebajoth, a son of Ismael, and the country settled by himNounpropermasculine singular

Nᵉbâyôwth: Nebajoth, a son of Ishmael, and the country settled by him Strong's gloss already contains the chapter's whole method: a man and the land he becomes. JFB argues the recovery of these names in modern Arab tribes yields evidence not of mere similarity but of absolute identification, following Forster; that confidence is Victorian and should be held loosely, but the man-becomes-people logic is the text's own.

בְּכ֤וֹרbə·ḵō·wrthe firstbornH1060

√ bᵉkôwr — firstbornNounmasculine singular construct

bᵉkôwr: firstborn The legal word for the double portion and the headship. Granting it to Ishmael in the same breath that subordinates him is characteristic of this chapter: birth order is reported honestly and then declined as decisive. Barnes notes the chronicler's parallel habit, that Shem was held back until after Japheth and Ham because the line ran through him.

יִשְׁמָעֵאל֙yiš·mā·‘êlof IshmaelH3458

√ Yishmâʻêʼl — Jishmael, the name of Abraham's oldest son, and of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

וְקֵדָ֥רwə·qê·ḏārthen KedarH6938

√ Qêdâr — Kedar, a son of IshmaelConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

וְאַדְבְּאֵ֖לwə·’aḏ·bə·’êlAdbeelH110

√ ʼAdbᵉʼêl — Adbeel, a son of IshmaelConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

ʼAdbᵉʼêl: Adbeel, a son of Ishmael Ellicott identifies him with the Assyrian Idiba'il, a tribe southwest of the Dead Sea toward Egypt, named with Massa and Tema as tributaries of Tiglath-pileser II, and notes that the Septuagint reads Nabdeel here and in Genesis. A name in this list is at once a person, a tribe, a tax entry in a foreign archive, and a textual problem.

וּמִבְשָֽׂם׃ū·miḇ·śāmMibsamH4017

√ Mibsâm — Mibsam, the name of an Ishmaelite and of an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

These [are] their-begettings: Nebaioth firstborn-of Ishmael, and-Kedar and-Adbeel and-Mibsam,

Where the English smooths the original

תֹּלְדוֹתָ֑ם תֹּלְדוֹתָ֑ם (tō·lə·ḏō·w·ṯām, H8435) is a plural-only noun meaning descent, begettings, from the verb “to bear.” “Genealogies” in English suggests a chart; the Hebrew names the act of generation itself. Ellicott: before a personal name the term denotes the posterity of the man and the history of him and his descendants. A tôledôth is a story, not a table.
בְּכ֤וֹר בְּכ֤וֹר (bə·ḵō·wr, H1060) is “firstborn,” in construct: firstborn-of-Ishmael. The chronicler concedes the title one verse after refusing it the first position. English keeps the concession but loses the sting of the placement.
אֵ֖לֶּה אֵ֖לֶּה (’êl·leh, H428) is a bare common-plural demonstrative, “these,” with no copula. BSB supplies “are.” The same word will close the Ishmael list at v. 31 and the Keturah list at v. 33, functioning as the chronicler's bracket rather than as a sentence.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

There is still a locality bearing this name, “Duma the Rocky,” on the borders of the Syrian desert and Arabia.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

Hadad here and in 1 Chronicles 1:50 is the well-known Syrian name, of which Hadar (margin) is an accidental corruption

Set Barnes beside Cambridge on the same verse: Cambridge insists the first letter here is Ḥçth and so distinguishes this Hadad from the later one, where Barnes treats the whole difficulty as a copyist's confusion of d and r. We record both and settle neither.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

Hadad ] The name begins with the Heb. letter Ḥçth and therefore differs from the Hadad of 1 Chronicles 1:46 and of 1 Chronicles 1:50 and of 2 Chronicles 16:2 in which the first letter is Hç

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Dumah and Tema, the great Arab tribes of Beni Teman. Thus this writer [Historical Geography of Arabia] traces the names of all the heads of the twelve tribes of Ishmael as perpetuated in the clans or tribes of the Arabs in the present day.

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Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

miš·mā‘ wə·ḏū·māh maś·śā ḥă·ḏaḏ wə·ṯê·mā

Word by word5 · parsed

מִשְׁמָ֣עmiš·mā‘MishmaH4927

√ Mishmâʻ — Mishma, the name of a son of Ishmael, and of an IsraeliteNounpropermasculine singular

וְדוּמָ֔הwə·ḏū·māhDumahH1746

√ Dûwmâh — Dumah, a tribe and region of ArabiaConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

Dûwmâh: Dumah, a tribe and region of Arabia A rare name, three verses in the whole Hebrew Bible. Ellicott reports a surviving locality, Duma the Rocky, on the border of the Syrian desert and Arabia, and also notes Isaiah 21:11 where the name is used of Edom. The same three consonants may therefore be a son, an oasis, and a prophetic oracle heading, and the identification of the three is not secure.

מַשָּׂ֖אmaś·śāMassaH4854

√ Massâʼ — Massa, a son of IshmaelNounpropermasculine singular

חֲדַ֥דḥă·ḏaḏHadadH2301

√ Chădad — Chadad, an IshmaeliteNounpropermasculine singular

Chădad: Chadad, an Ishmaelite Two verses only. The textual dispute recorded by Barnes and Cambridge is the most substantive variant in this unit, and it is a dispute about a single letter in a name nobody builds doctrine on, which is itself instructive about how the text has been kept.

וְתֵימָֽא׃wə·ṯê·māTemaH8485

√ Têymâʼ — Tema, a son of Ishmael, and the region settled by himConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

Têymâʼ: Tema, a son of Ishmael, and the region settled by him Ellicott places it in the north of the Arabian desert and notes the Septuagint confuses it with Teman. The Verifier finds the same lexeme at Jeremiah 25:23 beside Dedan, in a list of nations given the cup, so the names of these sons surface later as objects of judgment oracles rather than as forgotten kin.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Mishma and-Dumah, Massa, Hadad and-Tema,

Where the English smooths the original

וְדוּמָ֔ה וְדוּמָ֔ה (wə·ḏū·māh, H1746) and the other waw-prefixed names keep an audible “and” before each. Hebrew chains these tribes together; English punctuation cuts them into a comma list. Read aloud, the Hebrew sounds like an unbroken accumulation rather than an inventory.
חֲדַ֥ד חֲדַ֥ד (ḥă·ḏaḏ, H2301) is spelled with ḥeth. Cambridge says the name therefore differs from the Hadad of 1 Chronicles 1:46 and 1:50, where the first letter is hê. Barnes reads it the other way, calling Hadad the well-known Syrian name and Hadar an accidental corruption from the closeness of d and r. Two respected editors, two different problems, and English print shows neither.
מַשָּׂ֖א מַשָּׂ֖א (maś·śā, H4854) is read here strictly as a tribal name. Cambridge sends the reader to Proverbs 31:1 in the Revised Version margin, where the same consonants are taken as this tribe rather than as a common noun. ⚙ The English page gives the reader no hint that a translator's decision is being made.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The Itureans beyond Jordan ( Luke 3:1 ). The other names are obscure.

Ellicott's candour is worth keeping: the identification of Jetur with Ituraea is his, and he immediately admits the rest of the verse resists identification.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

Jetur, Naphish ] 1 Chronicles 5:18-22 .

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

Let us take occasion from reading these lists of names, to think of the multitudes that have gone through this world, have done their parts in it, and then quitted it.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The reason of the omission is rather this, that in Genesis the great-grandchildren are not themselves mentioned, but only the tribes descended from the grandchildren, while the chronicler wished to enumerate only the sons and grandsons.

K&D are answering Bertheau, who inferred from the shorter list that the chronicler's copy of the Pentateuch lacked those names. The disagreement is about method, not text, and K&D's explanation is an argument rather than evidence.

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Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

yə·ṭūr nā·p̄îš wā·qê·ḏə·māh ’êl·leh hêm bə·nê yiš·mā·‘êl

Word by word7 · parsed

יְט֥וּרyə·ṭūrJeturH3195

√ Yᵉṭûwr — Jetur, a son of IshmaelNounpropermasculine singular

נָפִ֖ישׁnā·p̄îšNaphishH5305

√ Nâphîysh — Naphish, a son of Ishmael, and his posterityNounpropermasculine singular

וָקֵ֑דְמָהwā·qê·ḏə·māhand KedemahH6929

√ Qêdᵉmâh — Kedemah, a son of IshmaelConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

Qêdᵉmâh: Kedemah, a son of Ishmael The twelfth and last. JFB, on v. 29, calls these the heads of his twelve tribes, which matches the promise language Pulpit cites from Genesis 21:13 about a nation made from the bondwoman's son. The chronicler completes the count and then drops the line without comment.

אֵ֥לֶּה’êl·lehTheseH428

√ ʼêl-leh — these or thosePronouncommon plural

הֵ֖םhêmwereH1992

√ hêm — they (only used when emphatic)Pronounthird person masculine plural

hêm: they (only used when emphatic) The lexicon's parenthesis is the whole note. Emphasis costs a word in Hebrew, so its presence is deliberate. After twelve names have run past, the chronicler stops and insists on the sum: these, precisely these, are Ishmael's. A list that could look like debris is being signed off as a fulfilment.

בְּנֵ֥יbə·nêthe sonsH1121

יִשְׁמָעֵֽאל׃סyiš·mā·‘êlof IshmaelH3458

√ Yishmâʻêʼl — Jishmael, the name of Abraham's oldest son, and of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

Yishmâʻêʼl: Jishmael, Abraham's oldest son Third occurrence in four verses. The name frames the section (v. 29 firstborn, v. 31 sons of Ishmael) exactly as Isaac frames the unit (v. 28, v. 34). Two bracketed lines, one carried forward. K&D describe the sequence flatly: Ishmael's posterity, then Keturah's sons, and finally the two sons of Isaac.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Jetur, Naphish and-Kedemah. These they [are] sons-of Ishmael. [ס]

Where the English smooths the original

הֵ֖ם הֵ֖ם (hêm, H1992) is the independent pronoun “they,” and the lexicon says it is used only when emphatic. Hebrew already had “these”; adding “they” is a thump on the table: these, they, are Ishmael's sons. BSB renders the emphatic pronoun as the colourless copula “were,” and the insistence disappears.
וָקֵ֑דְמָה וָקֵ֑דְמָה (wā·qê·ḏə·māh, H6929) closes the twelve. ⚙ Its consonants stand close to the ordinary Hebrew word for what lies east, but Strong's glosses the form only as the personal name, and Ellicott says plainly of this verse that the other names are obscure. We flag the resemblance and claim nothing from it.
בְּנֵ֥י בְּנֵ֥י (bə·nê, H1121) is again construct plural, closing the bracket opened at v. 28 with the identical form. The English reads as two separate sentences about sons; the Hebrew repeats one shape to seal a section.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

Keturah, Abraham's concubine - This passage, and Genesis 25:6 , sufficiently prove that the position of Keturah was not that of the full wife

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

Keturah is called פּילגשׁ after Genesis 25:6 , where Keturah and Hagar are so named.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Medan is very likely a mere repetition of Midian, due to a mistake of some ancient copyist.

A conjecture, not a reading: no manuscript evidence is offered, and both names stand in Genesis 25:2 as well. Ellicott's own Assyrian identifications elsewhere are better grounded than this one.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

Verses 32, 33, contain the list of Abraham's sons by Keturah, here called one of his concubines; but in Genesis, "a wife," and apparently not taken by Abraham till after Sarah's death

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The sons born to Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇə·nê yā·lə·ḏāh ’eṯ- qə·ṭū·rāh ’aḇ·rā·hām pî·le·ḡeš zim·rān wə·yā·qə·šān ū·mə·ḏān ū·miḏ·yān wə·yiš·bāq wə·šū·aḥ ū·ḇə·nê yā·qə·šān šə·ḇā ū·ḏə·ḏān

Word by word16 · parsed

וּבְנֵ֨יū·ḇə·nêThe sonsH1121

√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct

יָלְדָ֞הyā·lə·ḏāhbornH3205

√ yâlad — to bear youngVerbQalPerfectthird person feminine singular

yâlad: to bear young (Qal perfect, third person feminine singular) The only finite verb in the verse, and it belongs to the woman. Everything else is a chain of construct nouns. The chronicler could have written the names as a bare list, as he does for Ishmael in vv. 29 to 31; instead he lets one concubine act, and six tribes follow from the act.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

קְטוּרָ֜הqə·ṭū·rāhto KeturahH6989

√ Qᵉṭûwrâh — Keturah, a wife of AbrahamNounproperfeminine singular

Qᵉṭûwrâh: Keturah, a wife of Abraham Strong's calls her a wife; this verse calls her a concubine. The tension is in the sources themselves (Genesis 25:1 against Genesis 25:6), and Pulpit notes the further wrinkle that in Genesis she is apparently not taken until after Sarah's death. We record the disagreement rather than resolving it.

אַבְרָהָ֗ם’aḇ·rā·hāmAbraham’sH85

√ ʼAbrâhâm — Abraham, the later name of AbramNounpropermasculine singular

פִּילֶ֣גֶשׁpî·le·ḡešconcubineH6370

√ pîylegesh — a concubineNounfeminine singular construct

pîylegesh: a concubine A legal status word, not an insult: the secondary wife whose sons are real sons with a lesser inheritance. Pulpit sets the outcome beside the title from Genesis 25:5 and 6, that Abraham gave all he had to Isaac while the sons of the concubines received gifts and were sent east. The word in this verse is already the account of why these thirteen names go no further in the register.

זִמְרָ֧ןzim·rānZimranH2175

√ Zimrân — Zimran, a son of Abraham by KeturahNounpropermasculine singular

וְיָקְשָׁ֛ןwə·yā·qə·šānJokshanH3370

√ Yoqshân — Jokshan, an Arabian patriarchConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

וּמְדָ֥ןū·mə·ḏānMedanH4091

√ Mᵉdân — Medan, a son of AbrahamConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

וּמִדְיָ֖ןū·miḏ·yānMidianH4080

√ Midyân — Midjan, a son of AbrahamConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

Midyân: Midjan, a son of Abraham The one name in this list that the rest of Scripture will not let alone: 55 verses. JFB traces the Midianites from him. ⚙ That means Israel's later enemy and Moses' own father-in-law both descend from Abraham, which is precisely the sort of fact a genealogy states without flinching.

וְיִשְׁבָּ֣קwə·yiš·bāqIshbakH3435

√ Yishbâq — Jishbak, a son of AbrahamConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

וְשׁ֑וּחַwə·šū·aḥand ShuahH7744

√ Shûwach — Shuach, a son of AbrahamConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

וּבְנֵ֥יū·ḇə·nêThe sonsH1121

יָקְשָׁ֖ןyā·qə·šānof JokshanH3370

√ Yoqshân — Jokshan, an Arabian patriarchNounpropermasculine singular

שְׁבָ֥אšə·ḇāShebaH7614

√ Shᵉbâʼ — Sheba, the name of three early progenitors of tribes and of an Ethiopian districtNounpropermasculine singular

Shᵉbâʼ: Sheba, early progenitor of tribes and an Ethiopian district Ellicott notes that Sheba and Dedan already appeared at 1 Chronicles 1:9 as sons of Cush, and suggests the names may have been common to different tribes in different regions. The chronicler lets the duplication stand unexplained; so do we.

וּדְדָֽן׃סū·ḏə·ḏānand DedanH1719

√ Dᵉdân — Dedan, the name of two Cushites and of their territoryConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-sons-of Keturah, concubine-of Abraham: she-bore [obj] Zimran and-Jokshan and-Medan and-Midian and-Ishbak and-Shuah. And-sons-of Jokshan: Sheba and-Dedan. [ס]

Where the English smooths the original

יָלְדָ֞ה יָלְדָ֞ה (yā·lə·ḏāh, H3205) is Qal perfect third person feminine singular: “she bore.” BSB turns the finite active verb into a participle, “The sons born to Keturah,” which quietly demotes Keturah from subject to recipient. In Hebrew she is the one doing something.
פִּילֶ֣גֶשׁ פִּילֶ֣גֶשׁ (pî·le·ḡeš, H6370) is “concubine,” in construct with Abraham. K&D observe that the chronicler takes this title from Genesis 25:6, where Keturah and Hagar are so named, though Genesis 25:1 had called her a wife. Barnes says the passage sufficiently proves that her position was not that of the full wife. The English keeps the word; only the cross-reference exposes that the chronicler has made a choice between two Genesis descriptions.
אֶת־ אֶת־ (’eṯ, H853) is the direct object marker, untranslatable, invisible in every English Bible. It exists to point at the object with more definiteness, and here it stands in the middle of the clause doing grammar no English word does.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The five clans or tribes of Midian. These, with the seven names of 1Chronicles 1:31 , make a total of twelve tribes for Keturah.

source ↗

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

Ephah ] Isaiah 60:6 . Henoch ] R.V. Hanoch , as Genesis 25:4 . Cp. 1 Chronicles 1:3

source ↗

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

sons of Keturah—These became founders of nomadic tribes in the north of Arabia and Syria, as Midian of the Midianites (Ge 36:35; Jud 6:2). and Shuah—from whom Bildad sprang (Job 2:11).

The link from Shuah to Bildad the Shuhite is JFB's inference from the tribal name, not a statement of the book of Job; it is plausible and traditional rather than demonstrated.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

The famous and well known ancestor of the Jews; of Ishmael his firstborn, and his posterity; of his sons by Keturah; and of Isaac and his sons, an account is given from hence to the end of 1 Chronicles 1:34 entirely agreeing with that in Genesis 25:1

Gill's single comment is printed against every verse of this section; his point is the agreement of the whole block with Genesis 25, which is the same judgment the Verifier's shared lexemes support.

source ↗

The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were Keturah’s sons.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇə·nê miḏ·yān ‘ê·p̄āh wā·‘ê·p̄er wa·ḥă·nō·wḵ wa·’ă·ḇî·ḏā‘ wə·’el·dā·‘āh kāl- ’êl·leh qə·ṭū·rāh bə·nê

Word by word11 · parsed

וּבְנֵ֣יū·ḇə·nêThe sonsH1121

מִדְיָ֗ןmiḏ·yānof MidianH4080

√ Midyân — Midjan, a son of AbrahamNounpropermasculine singular

עֵיפָ֤ה‘ê·p̄āhEphahH5891

√ ʻÊyphâh — Ephah, the name of a son of Midian, and of the region settled by himNounpropermasculine singular

ʻÊyphâh: Ephah, a son of Midian and the region settled by him Ellicott finds him as Hâ'âpâ or Hayâpa in the records of Tiglath-pileser; Cambridge sends the reader to Isaiah 60:6. The same clan appears in an Assyrian tribute list and in a prophecy of nations bringing gifts to Zion, which is the double life every name in this chapter turns out to have.

וָעֵ֙פֶר֙wā·‘ê·p̄erEpherH6081

√ ʻÊpher — Epher, the name of an Arabian and of two IsraelitesConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

וַחֲנ֔וֹךְwa·ḥă·nō·wḵHanochH2585

√ Chănôwk — Chanok, an antediluvian patriachConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

Chănôwk: Chanok, an antediluvian patriach The name of Genesis 5 reappearing in a Midianite clan. ⚙ We claim no descent and no theology from the repetition: Hebrew names recur across unrelated families, and Cambridge's cross-reference to 1 Chronicles 1:3 is an observation about the word, not about the man. But it is worth seeing that the chronicler's own earlier list supplied the name a reader will hear here.

וַאֲבִידָ֖עwa·’ă·ḇî·ḏā‘AbidaH28

√ ʼĂbîydâʻ — Abida, a son of Abraham by KeturahConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

וְאֶלְדָּעָ֑הwə·’el·dā·‘āhand EldaahH420

√ ʼEldâʻâh — Eldaah, a son of MidianConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

כָּל־kāl-AllH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

kôl: properly, the whole The summing word; light in itself, load-bearing only as the closing bracket.

אֵ֖לֶּה’êl·lehof theseH428

√ ʼêl-leh — these or thosePronouncommon plural

קְטוּרָֽה׃סqə·ṭū·rāhwere Keturah’sH6989

√ Qᵉṭûwrâh — Keturah, a wife of AbrahamNounproperfeminine singular

בְּנֵ֥יbə·nêsonsH1121

bên: a son (as a builder of the family name) Strong's parenthesis earns its place at the end of this list: a son is a builder of the family name. Thirteen names have just been built, and the chronicler now sets the whole structure aside to return to Isaac. Henry's reading of these catalogues, that a generation does its part and then quits the world, is aimed precisely here.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-sons-of Midian: Ephah and-Epher and-Hanoch and-Abida and-Eldaah. All-of these [were] Keturah's sons. [ס]

Where the English smooths the original

וַחֲנ֔וֹךְ וַחֲנ֔וֹךְ (wa·ḥă·nō·wḵ, H2585) is the very name Strong's glosses as Chanok, an antediluvian patriarch. Cambridge, who prefers Hanoch here with the Revised Version, sends the reader back to 1 Chronicles 1:3, where the same lexeme names Enoch who walked with God. The English spelling variation Henoch or Hanoch hides that a grandson of Abraham by a concubine carries the name of the man who did not see death.
כָּל־ כָּל־ (kāl, H3605) is a construct noun meaning “the whole of,” not an adjective. Hebrew says “all-of these”; the totalling is done by a noun in a chain, which is why the closing formula feels like a ledger being ruled off.
קְטוּרָֽה׃ס קְטוּרָֽה׃ס closes the section with the setumah marker attached, and the Hebrew construct order is “sons-of Keturah,” not the English possessive “Keturah's sons.” Ellicott counts the result: these five clans of Midian with the seven earlier names make twelve tribes for Keturah, a total the text never states outright.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Esau is named first, not as the elder, but because the tribes of Esau are to be first enumerated. (Comp. Note above on 1Chronicles 1:28-42 .) Israel. —The more honourable appellation ( Genesis 32:28 ) almost wholly supplanted Jacob as the name of the chosen people

source ↗

Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

But here the continuation of the genealogy of Abraham is prefaced by the remark that Abraham begat Isaac, just as in Genesis 25:19

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

Verses 34-37 lead us on to the descendants of Isaac, the more important branch of Abraham's family. It breaks again at once into two, Esau , the less important, treated of first; and Israel , reserved till we enter on ch. 2.

source ↗

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The Descent of the tribes of Edom from Abraham (Cp. Genesis 36:10-14 )

source ↗

Abraham was the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’aḇ·rā·hām ’eṯ- way·yō·w·leḏ yiṣ·ḥå̄·qs bə·nê yiṣ·ḥāq ‘ê·śāw wə·yiś·rā·’êl

Word by word8 · parsed

אַבְרָהָ֖ם’aḇ·rā·hāmAbrahamH85

√ ʼAbrâhâm — Abraham, the later name of AbramNounpropermasculine singular

ʼAbrâhâm: Abraham, the later name of Abram Pulpit points out that the new form of the name is used at once from v. 28, in place of the old form. The unit is bracketed by renamings: Abram to Abraham at its head, Jacob to Israel at its foot. Between them lie twenty-five names that were never renamed.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

וַיּ֥וֹלֶדway·yō·w·leḏwas the father ofH3205

√ yâlad — to bear youngConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

yâlad: to bear young (Hifil, consecutive imperfect) The Hifil makes the verb causative and the wayyiqtol makes it narrative: for one clause the genealogy becomes a story again. K&D notice that this looks redundant, since Isaac was already named in v. 28, and take the repetition as the preface that resumes Abraham's line, matching Genesis 25:19 word for word in function. The restatement is the hinge of the whole chapter.

יִצְחָ֑קסyiṣ·ḥå̄·qsIsaacH3327

√ Yitschâq — Jitschak (or Isaac), son of AbrahamNounpropermasculine singular

בְּנֵ֣יbə·nêThe sonsH1121

יִצְחָ֔קyiṣ·ḥāqof IsaacH3327

√ Yitschâq — Jitschak (or Isaac), son of AbrahamNounpropermasculine singular

עֵשָׂ֖ו‘ê·śāwEsauH6215

√ ʻÊsâv — Esav, a son of Isaac, including his posterityNounpropermasculine singular

ʻÊsâv: Esav, a son of Isaac, including his posterity Strong's gloss quietly includes the posterity in the man, which is why Esau can be listed first without being preferred. Ellicott: he is named first not as the elder but because the tribes of Esau are to be first enumerated. Pulpit reads the same motion as at v. 28, the less important cleared out of the way first.

וְיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃סwə·yiś·rā·’êland IsraelH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

Yisrâʼêl: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob The last word of the unit, and the first word of everything that follows: 1 Chronicles 2 begins from these sons. Ellicott notes that some moderns have seen in double names such as Jacob-Israel and Esau-Edom a trace of an ancient fusion of distinct races. ⚙ That is a nineteenth century reconstruction, not the text's claim; the text's claim is that a man was given a new name and a people took it.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-Abraham [obj] begat Isaac. [ס] Sons-of Isaac: Esau and-Israel. [ס]

Where the English smooths the original

וַיּ֥וֹלֶד וַיּ֥וֹלֶד (way·yō·w·leḏ, H3205) is Hifil consecutive imperfect: the causative stem, “and-he-caused-to-be-borne,” the narrative verb form that drives Hebrew storytelling. BSB's “was the father of” is a static relation; the Hebrew is an event with a narrative tense. It is the same root that was feminine and Qal at v. 32 (she bore); here it is masculine and causative.
אֶת־ אֶת־ (’eṯ, H853) marks Isaac as the definite object of that verb. The sons of Ishmael and Keturah were listed; Isaac is begotten, with the object marker pointing at him. English can only put him after a preposition.
וְיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ס וְיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ס (wə·yiś·rā·’êl, H3478) is not Jacob. Strong's calls it a symbolical name of Jacob; Ellicott says the more honourable appellation of Genesis 32:28 almost wholly supplanted Jacob as the name of the chosen people. The chronicler puts the renamed man beside his unrenamed brother, and the English reader, seeing two ordinary proper nouns, cannot hear the asymmetry.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The narrowing, and what it refuses to throw away — 1:28

One verse, four words, no verb. בְּנֵי אַבְרָהָם is a construct chain used as a heading, and Benson hears in it the sound of everything else falling away: all nations but the seed of Abraham are already shaken off from this genealogy. He will not let the shaking off become a verdict, adding his hope that many outside the loins of Abraham had their names in the book of life. Barnes explains the order (Isaac first as the legitimate heir, since Sarah alone was Abraham's true wife) and K&D give the theological version of the same fact (Isaac first, as the son of the promise). Pulpit, characteristically, refuses to generalise the principle: he warns that to note each clear instance of this kind will guard us against inferring anything positive about seniority merely from order. All four are reading a verse that makes its argument entirely by where it puts two names. ⚙ What strikes us is the restraint of the narrowing: having named the heir first, the chronicler immediately spends six verses on the sons he is not following.

ii. Twelve princes of the desert: Ishmael's line — 1:29 to 1:31

תֹּלְדוֹתָם opens the section, and Ellicott supplies the crucial gloss: before a personal name the term denotes the posterity of the man and the history of him and his descendants, and the Hebrew sēfer tôldôth answers to the opening phrase of Matthew 1:1. What follows is twelve names, given, as Cambridge notes, as the descent of the Ishmaelite tribes from Abraham out of Genesis 25:12 to 16. Ellicott reads them against Assyrian archives: Adbeel is the Idiba'il of Tiglath-pileser II, Tema is Taimâ'u, Dumah survives as a locality on the edge of the Syrian desert. JFB, following Forster, presses much further and claims the modern Arab tribes yield evidence not of mere similarity but of absolute identification, a confidence later scholarship has not sustained. Barnes and Cambridge disagree in detail over the single letter in חֲדַד. Then the section is sealed with an emphatic pronoun, הֵם, a word the lexicon says is used only when emphatic: these, they, are the sons of Ishmael. ⚙ A list that could read as clutter is signed off as a completed count, which is what a fulfilled promise looks like when it is written as a register.

iii. The sons sent east, and the son kept — 1:32 to 1:34

Keturah's section turns on two words. The verb יָלְדָה is Qal perfect third feminine singular, the only finite verb in v. 32, and it is hers. The noun פִּילֶגֶשׁ is the chronicler's own decision: K&D show he takes it from Genesis 25:6 rather than from Genesis 25:1, where she is a wife, and Barnes holds that the passage sufficiently proves her position was not that of the full wife. Pulpit adds the consequence from Genesis 25:5 and 6, that Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac while the sons of the concubines were given gifts and sent away eastward. Ellicott counts the result as twelve tribes for Keturah, matching the twelve of Ishmael, though he suspects Medan is a copyist's repetition of Midian and K&D argue with Bertheau about the omitted descendants of Dedan. Then v. 34 restates what v. 28 already said. K&D see why: the restatement prefaces the continuation of Abraham's line, exactly as Genesis 25:19 does. Esau comes first again, and Ellicott gives the reason that is by now the chapter's rule, that he is named first not as the elder but because his tribes are to be enumerated first. The last word is וְיִשְׂרָאֵל. Pulpit: Israel, reserved till we enter on ch. 2.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Read as Scripture read by Scripture alone, this unit is doing something harder than pruning. A genealogy that only wanted the elect line could have written three words: Abraham begat Isaac. It writes twenty-five other names first, with their firstborn honoured (בְּכוֹר, v. 29), their mother given the only active verb in her section (יָלְדָה, v. 32), and their counts completed and sealed. The chronicler, writing for a returned remnant with almost nothing left, spends his opening chapter proving that God's promises to the people he did not choose were also kept. Ishmael got his twelve. Keturah got her thirteen. Then the register narrows, not because the others failed, but because one line carries something the others were never asked to carry. Henry's pastoral instinct is right and incomplete: yes, a generation does its part and quits the world, but these particular names do not simply pass, they reappear at Isaiah 60 carrying gifts. We hold that as a hope, not as a proof. The honest limit of this unit is that it tells us nothing at all about the eternal standing of any man in it, and Benson was wise to say so out loud. The line below is our own sentence, not Scripture.

God finished the lists he was not going to follow, and that is the first thing this book wants a ruined people to know.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The chronicler's source, open on the desk: Genesis 25:12 to 16 verbal / quotation: confirmed

Verses 29 to 31 are not an independent tradition but an extract. Ellicott states it flatly, that the twelve sons of Ishmael are given first in an extract from Genesis 25:13 to 16; K&D say the names correspond to those in Genesis 25:12 to 15 and have been explained there; Cambridge heads the section as the descent of the Ishmaelite tribes from Abraham with the Genesis reference attached. The Verifier's shared lexemes put numbers under the editors' claim, and several of them are names that occur almost nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.

Genesis 25:13 · Genesis 25:14 · Genesis 25:15

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H2301 Chădad (in 2 vv), H4854 Massâʼ (in 2 vv), H5305 Nâphîysh (in 3 vv), H1746 Dûwmâh (in 3 vv), H4927 Mishmâʻ (in 4 vv), H5032 Nᵉbâyôwth (in 5 vv), H8485 Têymâʼ (in 5 vv), plus H8435 tôwlᵉdâh (in 39 vv) and H3458 Yishmâʻêʼl (in 44 vv). Multiple lexemes at two- and three-verse frequency in the same order is copying, not coincidence; Ellicott and K&D name Genesis 25 as the source.

Keturah's thirteen, lifted from Genesis 25:1 to 4 verbal / quotation: confirmed

K&D: the thirteen descendants of Abraham by Keturah, six sons and seven grandsons, agree with Genesis 25:1 to 4, only the tribes descended from Dedan being omitted. Ellicott calls vv. 32 and 33 an extract from the same passage, and notes that Genesis 25:3 adds three further names which the chronicler lacks. K&D reject Bertheau's inference that the chronicler's Pentateuch therefore lacked them, arguing instead that he meant to record sons and grandsons only. The lexical overlap is dense and rare, and the disagreement is about the omission, not the dependence.

Genesis 25:1 · Genesis 25:2 · Genesis 25:3 · Genesis 25:4

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H2175 Zimrân (in 2 vv), H4091 Mᵉdân (in 2 vv), H3370 Yoqshân (in 3 vv), H6989 Qᵉṭûwrâh (in 4 vv), H2585 Chănôwk (in 15 vv), H1719 Dᵉdân (in 10 vv), H7614 Shᵉbâʼ (in 23 vv), H4080 Midyân (in 55 vv). Zimran and Medan occur in only two verses each in the whole Hebrew Bible, and both of those verses are this pair.

Jetur and Naphish return as enemies four chapters later verbal / quotation: confirmed

Cambridge attaches 1 Chronicles 5:18 to 22 to this verse without comment. The passage it points to is the Transjordanian tribes' war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish and Nodab. ⚙ The same chronicler who records these two names here as sons of Abraham's son records them there as people Israel fought and dispossessed. Within one book, a name is both kinship and casualty list, and the book does not reconcile the two.

1 Chronicles 5:19

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H5305 Nâphîysh (in 3 vv) and H3195 Yᵉṭûwr (in 3 vv). Both lexemes sit at three-verse frequency across the entire Hebrew Bible and both are shared by this pair, which is a genuine verbal link; Cambridge records the same cross-reference independently.

The same tribes, bringing gifts to Zion structural / thematic: confirmed

Cambridge sends Nebaioth to Isaiah 60:7 and Ephah to Isaiah 60:6; Ellicott notes that Nebaioth and Kedar are named together at Isaiah 60:7. In Isaiah's vision of the nations coming to a restored Zion, the caravans named are drawn from exactly this register: Midian and Ephah and Sheba in one verse, Kedar and Nebaioth in the next. ⚙ The chronicler lists them as sons who were sent away; Isaiah sees them arriving. No quotation is involved and none is claimed. What is shared is a set of tribal names and a motif of the outer sons of Abraham reappearing at the centre.

Isaiah 60:6 · Isaiah 60:7

basis: Verifier: Isaiah 60:7 shares H5032 Nᵉbâyôwth (in 5 vv) and H6938 Qêdâr (in 11 vv); Isaiah 60:6 shares H4080 Midyân (in 55 vv) and H7614 Shᵉbâʼ (in 23 vv). Nebaioth at five-verse frequency would support a verbal tier on its own, but neither text cites the other and the link is a shared cast of names inside a motif, so we tier it structural and under-claim deliberately.

Dumah and Tema under the oracle flagged: verify source

Ellicott glosses Dumah at v. 30 by Isaiah 21:11 and then says something awkward: that there the name stands for Edom. Cambridge gives the same cross-reference without the identification, and sends Tema to Isaiah 21:14. The Verifier also finds Tema beside Dedan at Jeremiah 25:23, in a list of peoples given the cup. ⚙ The lexemes are genuinely rare and genuinely shared, but whether Isaiah's Dumah is this Ishmaelite tribe, a place in Edom, or a symbolic name is disputed among the editors in this very brief, so we flag rather than confirm.

Isaiah 21:11 · Jeremiah 25:23

basis: Verifier: Isaiah 21:11 shares H1746 Dûwmâh (in 3 vv); Jeremiah 25:23 shares H8485 Têymâʼ (in 5 vv) and H1719 Dᵉdân (in 10 vv). The lexeme match is real, but the referential identification is contested in the sources themselves: Ellicott reads Isaiah's Dumah as a name of Edom, not as this Ishmaelite son. Flagged pending better evidence.

Tôldôth and the book of the generations: Matthew 1:1 structural / thematic: confirmed

Ellicott makes the connection explicitly at v. 29: the Hebrew expression sēfer tôldôth answers to the Greek phrase that opens Matthew 1:1. ⚙ That is the whole grammar of the link. Matthew opens his Gospel with the standing Hebrew formula for a genealogical record, the same formula that heads this Ishmaelite list, and then does with it what the chronicler does here: he names the lines he will not follow before naming the one he will. No shared Strong's number is possible across the Testaments, and Matthew does not cite 1 Chronicles. The tie is formal and idiomatic, named by an editor in this brief, and tiered accordingly.

Matthew 1:1

basis: Cross-Testament Greek to Hebrew, so shared Strong's numbers are impossible by definition and a verbal tier is excluded. Recorded basis is Ellicott's stated equivalence at 1 Chronicles 1:29, that sēfer tôldôth (H8435 tôwlᵉdâh, in 39 vv) answers to the phrase opening Matthew 1:1, plus the shared structural habit of listing non-elect lines before the elect one.

Ishmael's daughter marries Esau: the two rejected lines join verbal / quotation: confirmed

The Verifier finds Nebaioth again at Genesis 28:9 and Genesis 36:3, where Esau takes Ishmael's daughter, Nebaioth's sister, as a wife. ⚙ Read against this unit, the detail is pointed: v. 31 closes Ishmael's list and v. 34 opens Esau's, and Genesis has already married the two lines to each other. The chronicler is about to spend vv. 35 to 54 on Edom. Both branches he sets aside here turn out to be one branch by marriage.

Genesis 28:9 · Genesis 36:3

basis: Verifier: Genesis 28:9 shares H5032 Nᵉbâyôwth (in 5 vv), H3458 Yishmâʻêʼl (in 44 vv), H85 ʼAbrâhâm (in 159 vv); Genesis 36:3 shares H5032 Nᵉbâyôwth (in 5 vv) and H3458 Yishmâʻêʼl twice. Nebaioth at five-verse frequency carries the verbal weight; the link is lexical and genealogical, not a quotation of one text by the other, and we claim only the lexeme.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The son of the promise, named first and kept last ancient/widely-held

⚙ The unit is bracketed by Isaac: named first at v. 28 against his own birth order, and named again at v. 34 by a finite Hifil verb, וַיּוֹלֶד, after every other branch has been closed out. K&D give the reason for the first placement, Isaac first, as the son of the promise, and the reason for the repetition, that it prefaces the continuation of the genealogy exactly as Genesis 25:19 does. Pulpit supplies the governing word from Genesis 21:12, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called, and notes that the promise to the bondwoman's son stands alongside it unretracted. That single sentence is the one the apostle takes up in Romans 9:7 to argue that the children of the promise, not the children of the flesh, are counted as seed. The line this verse protects runs unbroken to the genealogy Matthew opens with the same Hebrew formula Ellicott identifies at v. 29. ⚙ Our reading: the chronicler's stubborn re-naming of Isaac after twenty-five other names is election written as bookkeeping, and it terminates in a person, not in a people.

Genesis 21:12 · Romans 9:7 · Matthew 1:1

Sent away eastward, returning with gifts ancient/widely-held

Pulpit records from Genesis 25:5 and 6 that Abraham gave all he had to Isaac, while the sons of the concubines received gifts and were sent away eastward, unto the east country. That is the last this genealogy has to say about them. But Cambridge, annotating these very names, sends Ephah to Isaiah 60:6 and Nebaioth to Isaiah 60:7, where Midian, Ephah, Sheba, Kedar and Nebaioth are the caravans and flocks coming to a restored Zion with tribute and acceptable offerings. ⚙ The sons sent east with gifts come back from the east with gifts. The church has long heard Isaiah 60 behind the magi who come from the east to the child, and we think that hearing is right; we note honestly that Matthew 2 does not cite Isaiah 60, so the connection is traditional and thematic rather than a quotation. What the texts themselves establish is that these discarded names are not discarded, and that the reversal runs through the son the chronicler kept.

Isaiah 60:6 · Isaiah 60:7 · Matthew 2:1

Twelve and twelve outside, twelve inside novel

⚙ Ellicott counts twelve tribes for Keturah (five clans of Midian added to the seven earlier names), and JFB counts twelve for Ishmael. The chronicler will reach a third twelve in chapter 2. ⚙ This is our own reading and we mark it novel: the pattern suggests that twelve is not a mark of election but of completeness, the shape God gives to any people he intends to finish. Israel's twelve is therefore not distinguished by its number but by what is placed in the middle of it, and the Gospels' appointing of twelve is a claim to be that middle. We offer this to be tested. Nothing in the brief asserts the pattern, Ellicott's Keturah total is a count he supplies rather than a statement of the text, and no commentator here draws the inference.

Genesis 17:20 · Genesis 35:22

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. Seven verses, all Hebrew, almost entirely proper names in construct chains. Only three finite verbs occur in the unit: יָלְדָה (Qal, v. 32) and וַיּוֹלֶד (Hifil, v. 34), both from H3205, and neither rendered as a verb by BSB. Four setumah markers are attached to surface forms (vv. 28, 31, 32, 33 and 34) and are not represented in English.

Variants recorded by our sources. Barnes holds Hadad to be the correct Syrian name and Hadar an accidental corruption from the resemblance of daleth and resh; Cambridge instead distinguishes this Hadad, spelled with ḥeth, from the Hadad of 1 Chronicles 1:46 and 1:50, spelled with hê. Ellicott reports that the Septuagint reads Nabdeel for Adbeel and confuses Tema with Teman, and Pulpit lists a further set of Septuagint divergences in both the Ishmael and the Keturah lists. Ellicott conjectures that Medan is a copyist's repetition of Midian; this is a conjecture with no manuscript support cited, and both names stand in Genesis 25:2. K&D and Bertheau disagree over why the Dedanite tribes of Genesis 25:3 are missing here, K&D arguing from the chronicler's purpose rather than from evidence.

Sources. Poole has no text on any verse of this unit. Gill's single comment is repeated against all seven verses, so it is cited once. Henry's note covers 1:28 to 54 as one block and is likewise cited once. Geneva prints little more than the verse text plus a pointer to Genesis 25:4, so it is not quoted. JFB's identifications of modern Arab tribes rest on Forster's Historical Geography of Arabia, and his claim of absolute identification is stronger than the evidence he cites; we flag it where it appears.

What is uncertain here. The identity of Isaiah's Dumah, the meaning of Kedemah, whether Sheba and Dedan at v. 32 are the same tribes as the Cushite Sheba and Dedan at 1 Chronicles 1:9 (Ellicott suggests the names may simply have been common to different regions), whether Keturah is properly wife or concubine (the chronicler chooses the Genesis 25:6 term over the Genesis 25:1 term), and the descent of Bildad from Shuah, which is JFB's inference. Our twelve-and-twelve reading under ⚙ is marked novel and is not supported by any commentator in this brief.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)