Font Size
Genesis 21:16-18
New English Translation
Genesis 21:16-18
New English Translation
16 Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot,[a] away; for she thought,[b] “I refuse to watch the child die.”[c] So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably.[d]
17 But God heard the boy’s voice.[e] The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter,[f] Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard[g] the boy’s voice right where he is crying. 18 Get up! Help the boy up and hold him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Genesis 21:16 sn A bowshot would be a distance of about 100 yards (90 meters).
- Genesis 21:16 tn Heb “said.”
- Genesis 21:16 tn Heb “I will not look on the death of the child.” The cohortative verbal form (note the negative particle אַל, ʾal) here expresses her resolve to avoid the stated action.
- Genesis 21:16 tn Heb “and she lifted up her voice and wept” (that is, she wept uncontrollably). The LXX reads “he” (referring to Ishmael) rather than “she” (referring to Hagar), but this is probably an attempt to harmonize this verse with the following one, which refers to the boy’s cries.
- Genesis 21:17 sn God heard the boy’s voice. The text has not to this point indicated that Ishmael was crying out, either in pain or in prayer. But the text here makes it clear that God heard him. Ishmael is clearly central to the story. Both the mother and the Lord are focused on the child’s imminent death.
- Genesis 21:17 tn Heb “What to you?”
- Genesis 21:17 sn Here the verb heard picks up the main motif of the name Ishmael (“God hears”), introduced back in chap. 16.
New English Translation (NET)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.