Genesis 25:4

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Genesis 25:4 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.
Genesis 25:4 — American Standard Version

Context — Genesis 25

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
4And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“And the sons of Midian, etc.] The fourth son of Abraham by Keturah; he had five sons next mentioned, who were heads of so many tribes or families in Midian: hence we read of five kings of Midian; (<043108>Numbers 31:8); their names follow, Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah: the two first of these, whom Cleodemus f1362 calls Aphra and Apher, and makes them to be sons of Abraham by Keturah, when they were his grandsons, he says, from them the city Aphra, and all Africa, had their names, and that these accompanied Hercules into Lybia, he having married a daughter of Aphra. Ephah is mentioned along with Midian in (<236006>Isaiah 60:6); but of the rest no notice is taken in…”
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Sources and verification