Genesis 20:13

20:13 When God made me wander ¹  from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: ²  Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”

Genesis 21:14

21:14 Early in the morning Abraham took ³  some food ⁴  and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child, ⁵  and sent her away. So she went wandering ⁶  aimlessly through the wilderness ⁷  of Beer Sheba.

[20:13]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb is plural. This may be a case of grammatical agreement with the name for God, which is plural in form. However, when this plural name refers to the one true God, accompanying predicates are usually singular in form. Perhaps Abraham is accommodating his speech to Abimelech’s polytheistic perspective. (See GKC 463 §145.i.) If so, one should translate, “when the gods made me wander.”

[20:13]  ² tn Heb “This is your loyal deed which you can do for me.”

[21:14]  ³ tn Heb “and Abraham rose up early in the morning and he took.”

[21:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general.

[21:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “He put upon her shoulder, and the boy [or perhaps, “and with the boy”], and he sent her away.” It is unclear how “and the boy” relates syntactically to what precedes. Perhaps the words should be rearranged and the text read, “and he put [them] on her shoulder and he gave to Hagar the boy.”

[21:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “she went and wandered.”

[21:14]  ⁷ tn Or “desert,” although for English readers this usually connotes a sandy desert like the Sahara rather than the arid wasteland of this region with its sparse vegetation.