Footnotes

1. Genesis 21:8 tn Heb “made.”
2. Genesis 21:8 sn Children were weaned closer to the age of two or three in the ancient world, because infant mortality was high. If an infant grew to this stage, it was fairly certain he or she would live. Such an event called for a celebration, especially for parents who had waited so long for a child.
3. Genesis 21:9 tn Heb “saw.”
4. Genesis 21:9 tn The Piel participle used here is from the same root as the name “Isaac.” In the Piel stem the verb means “to jest; to make sport of; to play with,” not simply “to laugh,” which is the meaning of the verb in the Qal stem. What exactly Ishmael was doing is not clear. Interpreters have generally concluded that the boy was either (1) mocking Isaac (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT) or (2) merely playing with Isaac as if on equal footing (cf. NAB, NRSV). In either case Sarah saw it as a threat. The same participial form was used in Gen 19:14 to describe how some in Lot’s family viewed his attempt to warn them of impending doom. It also appears later in Gen 39:14, 17, where Potiphar accuses Joseph of mocking them. sn Mocking. Here Sarah interprets Ishmael’s actions as being sinister. Ishmael probably did not take the younger child seriously and Sarah saw this as a threat to Isaac. Paul in Gal 4:29 says that Ishmael persecuted Isaac. He uses a Greek word that can mean “to put to flight; to chase away; to pursue” and may be drawing on a rabbinic interpretation of the passage. In Paul’s analogical application of the passage, he points out that once the promised child Isaac (symbolizing Christ as the fulfillment of God’s promise) has come, there is no room left for the slave woman and her son (who symbolize the Mosaic law).
5. Genesis 21:10 tn Heb “drive out.” The language may seem severe, but Sarah’s maternal instincts sensed a real danger in that Ishmael was not treating Isaac with the proper respect.
6. Genesis 21:11 tn Heb “and the word was very wrong in the eyes of Abraham on account of his son.” The verb רָעַע (raʿaʿ) often refers to what is morally or ethically “evil.” It usage here suggests that Abraham thought Sarah’s demand was ethically (and perhaps legally) wrong.
7. Genesis 21:12 tn Heb “Let it not be evil in your eyes.”
8. Genesis 21:12 tn Heb “listen to her voice.” The idiomatic expression means “obey; comply.” Here her advice, though harsh, is necessary and conforms to the will of God. Later (see Gen 25), when Abraham has other sons, he sends them all away as well.
9. Genesis 21:12 tn The imperfect verbal form here draws attention to an action that is underway.
10. Genesis 21:12 tn Or perhaps “will be named”; Heb “for in Isaac offspring will be called to you.” The exact meaning of the statement is not clear, but it does indicate that God’s covenantal promises to Abraham will be realized through Isaac, not Ishmael.
11. Genesis 21:13 tc The translation follows the Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate here in adding “great” (cf. 21:18); MT reads simply “a nation.”
12. Genesis 21:14 tn Heb “and Abraham rose up early in the morning and he took.”
13. Genesis 21:14 tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general.
14. Genesis 21:14 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.”
15. Genesis 21:14 tn Heb “she went and wandered.”
16. Genesis 21:14 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.
17. Genesis 21:15 tn Heb “threw,” but the child, who was now thirteen years old, would not have been carried, let alone thrown under a bush. The exaggerated language suggests Ishmael is limp from dehydration and is being abandoned to die. See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 2:85.
18. Genesis 21:16 sn A bowshot would be a distance of about 100 yards (90 meters).
19. Genesis 21:16 tn Heb “said.”
20. Genesis 21:16 tn Heb “I will not look on the death of the child.” The cohortative verbal form (note the negative particle אַל, ʾal) here expresses her resolve to avoid the stated action.
21. Genesis 21:16 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.
22. Genesis 21:17 sn God heard the boy’s voice. The text has not to this point indicated that Ishmael was crying out, either in pain or in prayer. But the text here makes it clear that God heard him. Ishmael is clearly central to the story. Both the mother and the Lord are focused on the child’s imminent death.
23. Genesis 21:17 tn Heb “What to you?”
24. Genesis 21:17 sn Here the verb heard picks up the main motif of the name Ishmael (“God hears”), introduced back in chap. 16.
25. Genesis 21:19 tn Heb “And God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.” The referent (Hagar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
26. Genesis 21:21 sn The wilderness of Paran is an area in the east central region of the Sinai peninsula, northeast from the traditional site of Mt. Sinai and with the Arabah and the Gulf of Aqaba as its eastern border.
27. Genesis 21:21 tn Heb “And his mother took for him a wife from the land of Egypt.”