Genesis 11:6

11:6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language ¹  they have begun to do this, then ²  nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. ³ 

Genesis 21:16

21:16 Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot ⁴  away; for she thought, ⁵  “I refuse to watch the child die.” ⁶  So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably. ⁷ 

[11:6]  ¹ tn Heb “and one lip to all of them.”

[11:6]  ² tn Heb “and now.” The foundational clause beginning with הֵן (hen) expresses the condition, and the second clause the result. It could be rendered “If this…then now.”

[11:6]  ³ tn Heb “all that they purpose to do will not be withheld from them.”

[21:16]  ⁴ sn A bowshot would be a distance of about a hundred yards (ninety meters).

[21:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “said.”

[21:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will not look on the death of the child.” The cohortative verbal form (note the negative particle אַל,’al) here expresses her resolve to avoid the stated action.

[21:16]  ⁷ 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.