Bible Strands
Genesis 25:6
But while he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Abraham acts in his final years, distributing provision to the sons of his concubines before his death, while ensuring his primary inheritance remains with Isaac.
The words — The Hebrew verb נָתַן (na.Tan) denotes the act of giving gifts (מַתָּנֹת, ma.ta.Not), while וַיְשַׁלְּחֵם (va.y.sha.le.Che/m) records the physical removal of these sons from Isaac’s lineage to the eastern regions.
The thread — This pattern of separation echoes Genesis 21:14, where Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away, and anticipates the later displacement of eastern groups described in Judges 6:3.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to recognize that Abraham’s provision for other sons does not transfer the covenant inheritance, which remains exclusively with Isaac.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.
Cross-references
- Genesis 21:14 Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.
- Judges 6:3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east would come up and invade them,
- Acts 14:17 Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”
- Genesis 16:3 So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife.
- Genesis 25:1 Now Abraham had taken another wife, named Keturah,
- Genesis 32:22 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
- Genesis 35:22 While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:
- Judges 19:1 Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
- Judges 19:4 His father-in-law, the girl’s father, persuaded him to stay, so he remained with him three days, eating, drinking, and lodging there.
- Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.