Genesis 16:7

And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
angel	מַלְאַ֧ךְ mal.'Akh	H4397	a messenger · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD	יְהוָ֛ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
her	וַֽיִּמְצָאָ֞הּ vai.yim.tza.'Ah	H4672	properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
fountain	עֵ֥ין 'ein	H5869	an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine singular construct
water	הַמַּ֖יִם ha.Ma.yim	H4325	water · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
wilderness	בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר ba.mid.Bar	H4057	a pasture (i.e. open field · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
fountain	הָעַ֖יִן ha.'A.yin	H5869	an eye (literally or figuratively) · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
way	בְּדֶ֥רֶךְ be.De.rekh	H1870	a road (as trodden) · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
Shur	שֽׁוּר Shur	H7793	Shur · proper noun, a place name

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Genesis 21:17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not…
Genesis 25:18 And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren.
Exodus 15:22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and fou…
Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
Genesis 20:1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.
Genesis 22:11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
Genesis 22:15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
Genesis 31:11 And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 16:7-9

Here is the first mention we have in scripture of an angel's appearance. Hagar was a type of the law, which was given by the disposition of angels; but the world to come is not put in subjection to them, Heb 2:5. Observe, I. How the angel arrested her in her flight, Heb 2:7. It should seem, she was making towards her own country; for she was in the way to Shur, which lay towards Egypt. It were well if our afflictions would make us think of our home, the better country. But Hagar was now out of her place, and out of the way of her duty, and going further astray, when the angel found her. Note, 1. It is a great mercy to be stopped in a sinful way either by conscience or by Providence. 2. God s…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 16:7

And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain--This well, pointed out by tradition, lay on the side of the caravan road, in the midst of Shur, a sandy desert on the west of Arabia-PetrÃ&brvbra, to the extent of a hundred fifty miles, between Palestine and Egypt. By taking that direction, she seems to have intended to return to her relatives in that country. Nothing but pride, passion, and sullen obstinacy, could have driven any solitary person to brave the dangers of such an inhospitable wild; and she would have died, had not the timely appearance and words of the angel recalled her to reflection and duty.

Adam Clarke on Genesis 16:7

The angel of the Lord - That Jesus Christ, in a body suited to the dignity of his nature, frequently appeared to the patriarchs, has been already intimated. That the person mentioned here was greater than any created being is sufficiently evident from the following particulars: - 1. From his promising to perform what God alone could do, and foretelling what God alone could know; "I will multiply thy seed exceedingly," etc., Gen 16:10; "Thou art with child, and shalt bear a son," etc., Gen 16:11; "He will be a wild man," etc., Gen 16:12. All this shows a prescience which is proper to God alone. 2. Hagar considers the person who spoke to her as God, calls him אל El, and addresses him in the w…

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The Church Fathers

(Verse 7) And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the desert, by the fountain on the way to Shur. Then the Egyptian woman hurriedly went on the way to Shur, which leads through the desert to Egypt.
— Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis

It is well too that Hagar was found "by a spring of water," for beginners find themselves engaged in purifications, which are signified by water. By contrast, those who are more fully matured come into a desert place, no longer needing purifications, having already rid themselves of vices and having been endowed with virtue.
— Didymus the Blind, ON GENESIS 243

And when the angel found her by the spring of water in the wilderness on the road to Shur, he said to her, "Hagar, maidservant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" Consequently, the Egyptian on the road to Shur, which leads through the desert to Egypt, was hastening. For the desert of Shur stretches up to the Red Sea, which reaches the borders of Egypt.
— Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Abraham — Father of a multitude, son of Terah, named (Gen. 11:27) before his older brothers Nahor and Haran, because he was the heir of the promises. Till the age of seventy, Abram sojourned among his kindred…
Angel — A word signifying, both in the Hebrew and Greek, a “messenger,” and hence employed to denote any agent God sends forth to execute his purposes. It is used of an ordinary messenger (Job 1:14: 1 Sam.…
Angel Of The Lord — (Genesis 16:7) etc. (The special form in which God manifested himself to man, and hence Christ’s visible form before the incarnation. Compare (Acts 7:30-38) with the corresponding Old-Testament…
Beer-lahai-roi — I.e., “the well of him that liveth and seeth me,” or, as some render it, “the well of the vision of life”, the well where the Lord met with Hagar (Gen. 16:7-14). Isaac dwelt beside this well (24:62;…
Concubine — In the Bible denotes a female conjugally united to a man, but in a relation inferior to that of a wife. Among the early Jews, from various causes, the difference between a wife and a concubine was…
Shur — An enclosure; a wall, a part, probably, of the Arabian desert, on the north-eastern border of Egypt, giving its name to a wilderness extending from Egypt toward Philistia (Gen. 16:7; 20:1; 25:18; Ex.…
Angel (Holy Trinity) · . — .
Deserts · Mentioned in scripture: Shur — Mentioned in scripture: Shur
Fountains And Springs · Frequented by travellers — Frequented by travellers
Lahai-Roi · (A well near Ka — (A well near Ka
Shur · A wil — A wil

Genesis 16:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 16:7-9

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 16:7

Adam Clarke on Genesis 16:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 16:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 16:7-9

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 16:7

Adam Clarke on Genesis 16:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Genesis 16:7

John Calvin on Genesis 16:7

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 16:7-12

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 16:7

Rashi on Genesis 16:6