(keh tyoo' ruh) Personal name meaning “incense” or “the perfumed one.” In Genesis 25:1 Keturah is called Abraham's wife, while 1 Chronicles 1:32 calls her a concubine. She was Abraham's second wife, apparently taken after Sarah's death.

Keturah bore six sons (daughters rarely are listed) to Abraham, the most notable being Midian. The list of Keturah's children substantiates the link between the Hebrews and the tribes which inhabited the areas east and southeast of Palestine. As children of a second wife, they were viewed as inferior to Isaac, Sarah's son.

A secondary wife or concubine taken by Abraham, whether in Sarah's lifetime or afterward is uncertain (Genesis 25:1; 1 Chronicles 1:28; 1 Chronicles 1:32). Their sons were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, Shuah; they spread through the desert E. to the Persian gulf. Hagar's son Ishmael's posterity was the elder branch of the "sons of the concubines."

Incense, the wife of Abraham, whom he married probably after Sarah's death (Genesis 25:1-6 ), by whom he had six sons, whom he sent away into the east country. Her nationality is unknown. She is styled "Abraham's concubine" (1 Chronicles 1:32 ). Through the offshoots of the Keturah line Abraham became the "father of many nations."

KETURAH . Abraham’s wife ( Genesis 25:1-4 ), or concubine ( 1 Chronicles 1:32 f.; cf. Genesis 25:6 ), after the death of Sarah; named only by J [Note: Jahwist.] and the Chronicler in the passages referred to; said to be the ancestress of sixteen tribes, several of which are distinctly Arabian Midian, Sheba, Dedan. Some Arabic writers mention an Arabian tribe near Mecca called Qatûrâ . The old Israelites evidently regarded some Arabs as distant relatives (see artt. Abraham, Esau, Hagar). The name Qetûrâh = ‘incense,’ is a perfume-name like Keziah ( Job 42:14 ).

W. Taylor Smith.

That makes the incense to fume

Woman Abraham married after Sarah's passing. The midrash identifies her as Hagar.

Abraham's handmaid. (Genesis 25:1) The name means, to burn, from Kather

Wife or concubine of Abraham by whom he had six sons, Midian being the most noted. Genesis 25:1-4 ; 1 Chronicles 1:32,33 .

the name of Abraham's second wife. Abraham married Keturah, when he was one hundred and forty years of age, and by her he had six sons, Zimram, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Some chronologers, as Bishop Clayton, Hallet, &c, thinking it improbable that Abraham should marry again at such an advanced age, have dislocated the chronology of this period, by supposing that Abraham took Keturah as a concubine, in consequence of his wife Sarah's barrenness, even before he left Charran; and that Keturah's children were among the souls born to him and Lot during their residence in that country. But it seems evident from the whole tenor of the history, that Abraham was childless until the birth of Ishmael, Genesis 15:2-3 ; that he had no other son than Ishmael when he received the promise of Isaac, Genesis 17:18 ; and that Isaac and Ishmael jointly, as his eldest sons, celebrated his funeral, Genesis 25:9 . His second marriage, at the age of one hundred and forty years, shows his faith in the divine promise, that he should be a "father of many nations;" for which purpose his constitution might be miraculously renewed, as Sarah's was. Beside, Abraham himself was born when his father Terah was one hundred and thirty years of age. Abraham settled the sons of Keturah in the east country of Arabia, near the residence of Ishmael.

The wife of Abraham, after the death of Sarah, Genesis 25:1-6 . Though she is called a "concubine," this may have been to distinguish her sons as well as Ishmael from Isaac the son of promise, Genesis 25:6 ; 1 Chronicles 1:32 ; Galatians 4:22,30 . Her sons were the ancestors of many Arabian tribes.