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Text -- Genesis 21:1-18 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
The Birth of Isaac
21:1 The Lord visited Sarah just as he had said he would and did for Sarah what he had promised .
21:2 So Sarah became pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him.
21:3 Abraham named his son – whom Sarah bore to him– Isaac .
21:4 When his son Isaac was eight days old , Abraham circumcised him just as God had commanded him to do.
21:5 (Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.)
21:6 Sarah said , “God has made me laugh . Everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”
21:7 She went on to say , “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children ? Yet I have given birth to a son for him in his old age !”
21:8 The child grew and was weaned . Abraham prepared a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned .
21:9 But Sarah noticed the son of Hagar the Egyptian – the son whom Hagar had borne to Abraham – mocking .
21:10 So she said to Abraham , “Banish that slave woman and her son , for the son of that slave woman will not be an heir along with my son Isaac !”
21:11 Sarah’s demand displeased Abraham greatly because Ishmael was his son .
21:12 But God said to Abraham , “Do not be upset about the boy or your slave wife . Do all that Sarah is telling you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted .
21:13 But I will also make the son of the slave wife into a great nation , for he is your descendant too.”
21:14 Early in the morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar . He put them on her shoulders , gave her the child , and sent her away . So she went wandering aimlessly through the wilderness of Beer Sheba .
21:15 When the water in the skin was gone , she shoved the child under one of the shrubs .
21:16 Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot away ; for she thought , “I refuse to watch the child die .” So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably.
21:17 But God heard the boy’s voice . The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, Hagar ? Don’t be afraid , for God has heard the boy’s voice right where he is crying.
21:18 Get up ! Help the boy up and hold him by the hand , for I will make him into a great nation .”
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Ishmael |
HAGAR |
Abraham |
Isaac |
Children |
Women |
Sarah |
Polygamy |
Afflictions and Adversities |
Cruelty |
Concubinage |
ISHMAELITES |
Beer-sheba |
Heir |
GENESIS, 1-2 |
Quotations and Allusions |
Inheritance |
ISHMAEL (1) |
Predestination |
Bottle |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Gen 21:1; Gen 21:1; Gen 21:1; Gen 21:2; Gen 21:3; Gen 21:4; Gen 21:4; Gen 21:5; Gen 21:6; Gen 21:6; Gen 21:6; Gen 21:7; Gen 21:7; Gen 21:8; Gen 21:8; Gen 21:9; Gen 21:9; Gen 21:9; Gen 21:10; Gen 21:11; Gen 21:12; Gen 21:12; Gen 21:12; Gen 21:12; Gen 21:14; Gen 21:14; Gen 21:14; Gen 21:14; Gen 21:14; Gen 21:15; Gen 21:16; Gen 21:16; Gen 21:16; Gen 21:16; Gen 21:17; Gen 21:17; Gen 21:17
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NET Notes: Gen 21:3 Heb “the one born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.” The two modifying clauses, the first introduced with an article and the second w...
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NET Notes: Gen 21:4 Just as God had commanded him to do. With the birth of the promised child, Abraham obeyed the Lord by both naming (Gen 17:19) and circumcising Isaac (...
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NET Notes: Gen 21:5 The parenthetical disjunctive clause underscores how miraculous this birth was. Abraham was 100 years old. The fact that the genealogies give the ages...
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NET Notes: Gen 21:6 Sarah’s words play on the name “Isaac” in a final triumphant manner. God prepared “laughter” (צְח...
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NET Notes: Gen 21:8 Children were weaned closer to the age of two or three in the ancient world, because infant mortality was high. If an infant grew to this stage, it wa...
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NET Notes: Gen 21:9 Mocking. Here Sarah interprets Ishmael’s actions as being sinister. Ishmael probably did not take the younger child seriously and Sarah saw this...
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NET Notes: Gen 21:10 Heb “drive out.” The language may seem severe, but Sarah’s maternal instincts sensed a real danger in that Ishmael was not treating ...
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NET Notes: Gen 21:11 Heb “and the word was very wrong in the eyes of Abraham on account of his son.” The verb רָעַע (ra’a...
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NET Notes: Gen 21:12 Or perhaps “will be named”; Heb “for in Isaac offspring will be called to you.” The exact meaning of the statement is not clea...
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NET Notes: Gen 21:14 Or “desert,” although for English readers this usually connotes a sandy desert like the Sahara rather than the arid wasteland of this regi...
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NET Notes: Gen 21:15 Heb “threw,” but the child, who was now thirteen years old, would not have been carried, let alone thrown under a bush. The exaggerated la...
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NET Notes: Gen 21:16 Heb “and she lifted up her voice and wept” (that is, she wept uncontrollably). The LXX reads “he” (referring to Ishmael) rathe...
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