Genesis 16:10-11

16:10 I will greatly multiply your descendants,” the Lord’s angel added, ¹  “so that they will be too numerous to count.” ²  16:11 Then the Lord’s angel said to her,

“You are now ³  pregnant

and are about to give birth ⁴  to a son.

You are to name him Ishmael, ⁵ 

for the Lord has heard your painful groans. ⁶ 

Genesis 25:13

25:13 These are the names of Ishmael’s sons, by their names according to their records: ⁷  Nebaioth (Ishmael’s firstborn), Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

Genesis 37:25

37:25 When they sat down to eat their food, they looked up ⁸  and saw ⁹  a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh down to Egypt. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 37:28

37:28 So when the Midianite ¹¹  merchants passed by, Joseph’s brothers pulled ¹²  him ¹³  out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites ¹⁴  then took Joseph to Egypt.

Genesis 37:1

Joseph’s Dreams

37:1 But Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, ¹⁵  in the land of Canaan. ¹⁶ 

Genesis 25:11

25:11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed ¹⁷  his son Isaac. Isaac lived near Beer Lahai Roi. ¹⁸ 

Genesis 25:1

The Death of Abraham

25:1 Abraham had taken ¹⁹  another ²⁰  wife, named Keturah.

Genesis 20:11

20:11 Abraham replied, “Because I thought, ²¹  ‘Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of ²²  my wife.’

[16:10]  ¹ tn Heb “The Lord’s angel said, ‘I will greatly multiply your descendants….” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[16:10]  ² tn Heb “cannot be numbered because of abundance.”

[16:11]  ³ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) focuses on her immediate situation: “Here you are pregnant.”

[16:11]  ⁴ tn The active participle refers here to something that is about to happen.

[16:11]  ⁵ 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.”

[16:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “affliction,” which must refer here to Hagar’s painful groans of anguish.

[25:13]  ⁷ tn The meaning of this line is not easily understood. The sons of Ishmael are listed here “by their names” and “according to their descendants.”

[37:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “lifted up their eyes.”

[37:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “and they saw and look.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the event through the eyes of the brothers.

[37:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh, going to go down to Egypt.”

[37:28]  ¹¹ sn On the close relationship between Ishmaelites (v. 25) and Midianites, see Judg 8:24.

[37:28]  ¹² tn Heb “they drew and they lifted up.” The referent (Joseph’s brothers) has been specified in the translation for clarity; otherwise the reader might assume the Midianites had pulled Joseph from the cistern (but cf. NAB).

[37:28]  ¹³ tn Heb “Joseph” (both here and in the following clause); the proper name has been replaced both times by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[37:28]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Ishmaelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the land of the sojournings of his father.”

[37:1]  ¹⁶ sn The next section begins with the heading This is the account of Jacob in Gen 37:2, so this verse actually forms part of the preceding section as a concluding contrast with Esau and his people. In contrast to all the settled and expanded population of Esau, Jacob was still moving about in the land without a permanent residence and without kings. Even if the Edomite king list was added later (as the reference to kings in Israel suggests), its placement here in contrast to Jacob and his descendants is important. Certainly the text deals with Esau before dealing with Jacob – that is the pattern. But the detail is so great in chap. 36 that the contrast cannot be missed.

[25:11]  ¹⁷ sn God blessed Isaac. The Hebrew verb “bless” in this passage must include all the gifts that God granted to Isaac. But fertility was not one of them, at least not for twenty years, because Rebekah was barren as well (see v. 21).

[25:11]  ¹⁸ sn Beer Lahai Roi. See the note on this place name in Gen 24:62.

[25:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “took.”

[25:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “And Abraham added and took.”

[20:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “Because I said.”

[20:11]  ²² tn Heb “over the matter of.”