Bible Strands
Genesis 21:14
Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Abraham acts at dawn after God’s promise regarding Ishmael. He places bread and a waterskin on Hagar’s shoulders and sends her away with her son into the wilderness.
The words — וַ/יַּשְׁכֵּ֣ם (va/i.yash.Kem) means "and he rose early," and לֶחֶם (le.Chem) translates literally to "food." These terms mark the prompt timing and the specific provisions Abraham prepares before departure.
The thread — The account recalls Genesis 16:7, where an angel locates Hagar at a desert spring, and points to Genesis 21:31, where the area receives the name Beersheba following an oath. It mirrors Genesis 25:6, where Abraham similarly sends his concubines’ sons away from Isaac.
Why it lands — The text records a father’s compliance with a command that requires removing his household from his presence. It asks a reader to note how minimal provision and deliberate abandonment operate together in the execution of that order.
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 Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer–sheba.
Cross-references
- Genesis 16:7 Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur.
- Genesis 21:31 So that place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.
- Genesis 25:6 But while he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.
- Genesis 26:31 And they got up early the next morning and swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.
- 1 Kings 19:3 And Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,
- Psalms 107:4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no path to a city in which to dwell.
- Psalms 119:60 I hurried without hesitating to keep Your commandments.
- Proverbs 27:14 If one blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be counted to him as a curse.
- Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
- John 8:35 A slave does not remain in the house forever, but a son remains forever.