Bible Strands
Genesis 21:13
But I will also make a nation of the slave woman’s son, because he is your offspring.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Abraham as he prepares to send Hagar and the boy away, responding to Abraham’s distress over their uncertain future.
The words — אֲשִׂימֶ֑נּוּ ('a.siMenū) translates literally as "I will make him," and לְ/ג֣וֹי (le./Goy) means "into a nation," directly framing the divine declaration of Ishmael’s future.
The thread — This declaration aligns with Genesis 16:10, Genesis 17:20, and Genesis 21:18, where God consistently affirms the multiplication and nationhood of the slave woman’s son.
Why it lands — It requires the reader to acknowledge that the text explicitly grounds the promise in biological descent ("because he is your offspring") before demanding trust in God’s provision over human anxiety.
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 also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
Cross-references
- Genesis 16:10 Then the angel added, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.”
- 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 21:18 Get up, lift up the boy, and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
- Genesis 25:12 This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant, bore to Abraham.