1:32 The sons to whom Keturah, Abraham’s concubine, 1 gave birth:
Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, Shuah.
The sons of Jokshan:
Sheba and Dedan.
1:2 Abraham was the father 2 of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
1 sn A concubine was a slave woman in ancient Near Eastern societies who was the legal property of her master, but who could have legitimate sexual relations with her master. A concubine’s status was more elevated than a mere servant, but she was not free and did not have the legal rights of a free wife. The children of a concubine could, in some instances, become equal heirs with the children of the free wife. After the period of the Judges concubines may have become more of a royal prerogative (2 Sam 21:10-14; 1 Kgs 11:3).
2 tn Grk “fathered.”
3 sn The list now picks up names from Gen 11:10-26; 5:1-32; 1 Chr 1:1-26, especially 1:24-26.
4 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 sn God gave…the covenant. Note how the covenant of promise came before Abraham’s entry into the land and before the building of the temple.
7 tn Grk “circumcised him on the eighth day,” but many modern readers will not understand that this procedure was done on the eighth day after birth. The temporal clause “when he was eight days old” conveys this idea more clearly. See Gen 17:11-12.
8 tn The words “became the father of” are not in the Greek text due to an ellipsis, but must be supplied for the English translation. The ellipsis picks up the verb from the previous clause describing how Abraham fathered Isaac.
9 sn The twelve patriarchs refers to the twelve sons of Jacob, the famous ancestors of the Jewish race (see Gen 35:23-26).