Genesis 21:18

Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Arise	ק֚וּמִי Ku.mi	H6965	to rise (in various applications · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
up	שְׂאִ֣י se.'I	H5375	to lift · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
lad	הַנַּ֔עַר ha.Na.'ar	H5288	(concretely) a boy (as active) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
hold	וְהַחֲזִ֥יקִי ve.ha.cha.Zi.ki	H2388	to fasten upon · conjunction + verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
hand	יָדֵ֖ךְ ya.Dekh	H3027	a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
make	אֲשִׂימֶֽנּוּ 'a.si.Me.nu	H7760	to put (used in a great variety of applications · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
great	גָּד֖וֹל ga.Dol	H1419	great (in any sense) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
nation	לְג֥וֹי le.Goy	H1471	a foreign nation · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute

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 21:13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
Genesis 16:10 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
Genesis 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve pri…
1 Chronicles 1:29-31 These are their generations: The firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; then Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,
Genesis 25:12-18 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bare unto Abraham:

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 21:14-21

Here is, I. The casting out of the bond-woman, and her son from the family of Abraham, Gen 21:14. Abraham's obedience to the divine command in this matter was speedy - early in the morning, we may suppose immediately after he had, in the night's visions, received orders to do this. It was also submissive; it was contrary to his judgment, at least to his own inclination, to do it; yet as soon as he perceives that it is the mind of God he makes no objections, but silently does as he is bidden, as one trained up to an implicit obedience. In sending them away without any attendants, on foot, and slenderly provided for, it is probable that he observed the directions given him. If Hagar and Ishmae…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 21:15

the water was spent, &c.--Ishmael sank exhausted from fatigue and thirst--his mother laid his head under one of the bushes to smell the damp while she herself, unable to witness his distress, sat down at a little distance in hopeless sorrow.

Adam Clarke on Genesis 21:15

And she cast the child - ותשלך את הילד vattashlech eth haiyeled, and she sent the lad under one of the shrubs, viz., to screen him from the intensity of the heat. Here Ishmael appears to be utterly helpless, and this circumstance seems farther to confirm the opinion that he was now in a state of infancy; but the preceding observations do this supposition entirely away, and his present helplessness will be easily accounted for on this ground: 1. Young persons can bear much less fatigue than those who are arrived at mature age. 2. They require much more fluid from the greater quantum of heat in their bodies, strongly marked by the impetuosity of the blood; because from them a much larger quant…

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John Gill on Genesis 21:18

Arise, lift up the lad,.... She had set herself down at some distance, and now she is bid to rise up and go to the place where she had left her son, and raise aim up from the ground, on which he lay along: and hold him in thine hand: or take hold on him with thine hand, and hold him up with it, he being so weak that he could not sit up without being supported: for I will make him a great nation: which is a renewal of a promise before made both to her and to Abraham, Genesis 16:10; and by this Hagar is assured that he would recover and live, and become a man and the father of children, who in time would become a great nation; See Gill on Genesis 16:10, Genesis 17:20, Genesis 21:13, this sho…

The Church Fathers

What loving kindness on the Lord's part! Far from ignoring [Hagar] as a menial servant, he deigned to show her such wonderful concern for the reason that he had made the promise to the patriarch and the child was his. Hence the words "What is it, Hagar? Don't worry: God heard the cry of the child. Get up, pick him up, and take him by the hand; after all, I am to make him grow into a mighty nation." Don't lose heart, he is saying, at being driven from home. He will enjoy such providence at my hands as to become a mighty nation, even he.
— John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 46.7

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

Hagar — Flight, or, according to others, stranger, an Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid (Gen. 16:1; 21:9, 10), whom she gave to Abraham (q.v.) as a secondary wife (16:2). When she was about to become a mother she…
Ishmael — God hears. (1.) Abraham’s eldest son, by Hagar the concubine (Gen. 16:15; 17:23). He was born at Mamre, when Abraham was eighty-six years of age, eleven years after his arrival in Canaan (16:3;…
Beer-Sheba · 3. Wil — 3. Wil
Ishmael · .Promised to be the father of a nation — .Promised to be the father of a nation
Ishmaelites, The · Predictions respecting: To be a great nation — Predictions respecting: To be a great nation
Man · Woman formed to be a help for — Woman formed to be a help for
Sorrow · .Of Hagar’ s — .Of Hagar’ s

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Genesis 21:18

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 21:14-21

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 21:15

Adam Clarke on Genesis 21:15

John Gill on Genesis 21:18

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 21:18

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 21:14-21

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 21:15

Adam Clarke on Genesis 21:15

John Gill on Genesis 21:18

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Genesis 21:18-19

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 21:8-21

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 21:16

Rashi on Genesis 21:17