Genesis 25:6

Summary

The verse describes Abraham giving gifts (matanot, H4979) to the sons born of his concubines, and then sending them eastward, away from his son Isaac, while Abraham was still alive.

Key words

• pilagshim ("concubines", H6370) — masculine plural noun, marking a distinct category of women from a primary wife, whose sons are grouped separately from Isaac.
• natan ("he gave", H5414G) — qal perfect, third person masculine singular, indicating a completed act performed by Abraham; the verb precedes its subject Avraham in the clause.
• vayeshalechem ("and he sent them away", H7971G + H9038) — piel narrative form with a third-person plural suffix ("them"); the piel stem intensifies the sending, and the vav-consecutive links this action sequentially to the giving of gifts.
• be'odenu chai ("while he was still alive", H9003 + H5750 + H9043 + H2416A) — a construct phrase built from the preposition be ("while"), the noun 'od ("still," in construct form with a suffix "his"), and the adjective chai ("alive"), together forming a temporal clause specifying that Abraham acted during his own lifetime.
• kedmah... eretz kedem ("eastward... land of the east", H6924B + H0776G + H6924G) — the noun kedem ("east") appears twice: first with a directional he suffix (H9011) meaning "toward the east," then in construct with eretz ("land of") to name the destination as "the land of the east."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the phrase ve-livnei ha-pilagshim ("and to the sons of the concubines"), placing the recipients of the action at the front of the clause before naming the giver. The verb natan ("he gave") follows, with Avraham as its explicit subject named twice in the verse (once before the verb natan, once implied in continuation), reinforcing his agency in both actions: giving gifts and sending the sons away. The narrative vav on vayeshalechem ("and he sent them away") marks this as a sequential act following the gift-giving, using the piel stem of shalach ("to send"), which carries a more emphatic or deliberate sense than the simple qal form.

The temporal clause be'odenu chai ("while he was still alive") clarifies that this sending occurred during Abraham's lifetime, distinguishing it from the disposition of his estate to Isaac. The destination is doubly marked: kedmah ("eastward," using the directional suffix) and then specified further as el eretz kedem ("to the land of the east"), giving both a directional sense and a named toponymic region.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders me'al Yitzchak beno ("from upon Isaac his son") as ἀπὸ Ἰσαὰκ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ ("from Isaac his son"), omitting the sense of "away from" conveyed by the Hebrew preposition me'al (H9006 + H5921A), which literally means "from upon" or "away from." The Vulgate's separavit eos ab Isaac ("he separated them from Isaac") makes explicit the separation implied in the Hebrew's vayeshalechem ("he sent them away") combined with me'al, using the verb "separavit" where the Hebrew and LXX use forms of "send" (shalach / ἐξαπέστειλεν).