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 

[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.