Genesis 15:5

15:5 The Lord ¹  took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars – if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.”

Genesis 16:11

16:11 Then the Lord’s angel said to her,

“You are now ²  pregnant

and are about to give birth ³  to a son.

You are to name him Ishmael, ⁴ 

for the Lord has heard your painful groans. ⁵ 

Genesis 29:2

29:2 He saw ⁶  in the field a well with ⁷  three flocks of sheep lying beside it, because the flocks were watered from that well. Now ⁸  a large stone covered the mouth of the well.

Genesis 34:21

34:21 “These men are at peace with us. So let them live in the land and travel freely in it, for the land is wide enough ⁹  for them. We will take their daughters for wives, and we will give them our daughters to marry. ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) focuses on her immediate situation: “Here you are pregnant.”

³ tn The active participle refers here to something that is about to happen.

⁴ sn The name Ishmael consists of the imperfect or jussive form of the Hebrew verb with the theophoric element added as the subject. It means “God hears” or “may God hear.”

⁵ tn Heb “affliction,” which must refer here to Hagar’s painful groans of anguish.

³ tn Heb “and he saw, and look.” As in Gen 28:12-15, the narrator uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) here and in the next clause to draw the reader into the story.

⁴ tn Heb “and look, there.”

⁵ tn The disjunctive clause (introduced by the noun with the prefixed conjunction) provides supplemental information that is important to the story.

⁴ tn Heb “wide on both hands,” that is, in both directions.

⁵ tn The words “to marry” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.