Shuah (Hebrew: שוח "ditch; swimming; humiliation"[1]), also known as Sous,[2] was, according to the Bible, the sixth son of Abraham, the patriarch of the Israelites, and Keturah whom he wed after the death of Sarah.[3][4] He was the youngest of Keturah's sons; the others were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, and Ishbak.[3]
Josephus writes of the brothers that "Abraham contrived to settle them in colonies; and they took possession of Troglodytis[5], and the country of Arabia the Happy, as far as it reaches to the Red Sea."[2] In all probability, Abraham tried to keep them apart from Isaac to avoid conflict while fulfilling God's commission to spread out and inhabit the globe.[6][7] But unlike his brothers, Shuah seems to have turned northward and travelled into northern Mesopotamia, in what is now the northern region of modern day Syria. As evidenced by cuneiform texts, the land seems to have been named after him, being known as the land of Sûchu which lies to the south of ancient Hittite capital of Carchemish on the Euphrates river.[8]
The Bible also records that Job's friend Bildad was a Shuhite.[9]
| Sons of Abraham by wife in order of birth | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hagar | Ishmael (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sarah | Isaac (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Keturah | Zimran | Jokshan | Medan | Midian | Ishbak | Shuah | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||