Bible Strands
Genesis 16:15
And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Hagar bears a son to Abram following the well’s naming and the angel’s prior instruction. Abram then formally names the newborn Ishmael at age eighty-six.
The words — וַ/יִּקְרָא (va/i.yik.Ra') means "and he called," and שֵׁם (shem) means "name." These terms record Abram’s decisive act of assigning the designated name to the child.
The thread — The event fulfills the angel’s instruction in Genesis 16:11, appears in the genealogical account of Genesis 25:12, and precedes Abraham’s prayer for Ishmael’s life in Genesis 17:18.
Why it lands — The text records a human act of naming that aligns with a prior divine directive. It requires the reader to track how human obedience intersects with established covenant history without assuming theological resolution at this point.
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 Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
Cross-references
- Genesis 25:12 This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant, bore to Abraham.
- Genesis 16:11 The angel of the LORD proceeded: “Behold, you have conceived and will bear a son. And you shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction.
- Genesis 17:18 And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live under Your blessing!”
- 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.
- Genesis 17:25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen;
- Genesis 21:9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son,
- Genesis 25:9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite.
- Genesis 28:9 Esau went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, in addition to the wives he already had.
- Genesis 37:27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him; for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And they agreed.
- 1 Chronicles 1:28 The sons of Abraham were Isaac and Ishmael.