Bible Strands
Genesis 16:10
Then the angel added, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The angel of the LORD addresses Hagar during her flight, immediately after commanding her to return to Sarai and submit to her authority.
The words — The verse centers on אַרְבֶּה ('arbeh), meaning "I will increase," intensified by הַרְבָּה (harbah), "multiply greatly."
The thread — This declaration of uncountable offspring reappears in the covenant renewal of Genesis 17:20 and the later guarantee in Genesis 21:13.
Why it lands — The text states that God will directly expand Hagar’s lineage beyond natural calculation, requiring the reader to recognize divine sovereignty over human reproduction without resorting to comfort or speculation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
Cross-references
- Genesis 17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you, and I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He will become the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.
- Psalms 83:6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites,
- Genesis 21:13 But I will also make a nation of the slave woman’s son, because he is your offspring.”
- Genesis 21:18 Get up, lift up the boy, and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
- Genesis 22:15 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time,
- Genesis 25:12 This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant, bore to Abraham.
- Genesis 21:16 Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I cannot bear to watch the boy die!” And as she sat nearby, she lifted up her voice and wept.
- Genesis 31:11 In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Here I am.’
- Genesis 32:24 So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
- Genesis 48:15 Then he blessed Joseph and said: “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,