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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Hagar acts after Ishmael’s water skin empties and she places him under a bush. She moves away to a distance and speaks aloud while weeping, unable to watch him die.

The words — The Hebrew verbs וַתֵּלֶךְ (va.tēleḵ, “and she went”) and וַתֵּשֶׁב (va.tēšēḇ, “and she sat”) mark her deliberate withdrawal. The phrase כִּמְטַחֲוֵי קֶשֶׁת (ki-mṭaḥăwê qešeṯ, “like the shooters of a bow”) quantifies this distance.

The thread — This pattern of separation and audible weeping parallels the angel’s call to Hagar in Genesis 21:17 and appears in Judges 2:4 where Israel weeps upon hearing God’s words. The motif of maternal grief also echoes Isaiah 49:15’s rhetorical question about a mother’s compassion.

Why it lands — The text records Hagar’s physical withdrawal and vocal grief before any divine intervention occurs. It requires the reader to note that human despair operates independently of God’s subsequent response, demanding attention to the sequence of events rather than emotional resolution.

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

וַתֵּלֶךְ֩va./te.leKhand/ she went וַתֵּ֨שֶׁבva./Te.shevand/ she satלָ֜הּla/hfor <the>/ herselfמִנֶּ֗גֶדmi./Ne.gedfrom/ before הַרְחֵק֙har.Chekat a distance כִּמְטַחֲוֵ֣יki/m.ta.cha.Veilike/ [the] shooters of קֶ֔שֶׁתKe.sheta bow כִּ֣יkifor אָֽמְרָ֔ה'a.me.Rahshe said אַל־'al-may not אֶרְאֶ֖ה'er.'EhI look בְּמ֣וֹתbe./Moton/ [the] death of הַיָּ֑לֶדhai./Ya.ledthe/ boy וַתֵּ֣שֶׁבva./Te.shevand/ she sat מִנֶּ֔גֶדmi./Ne.gedfrom/ before וַתִּשָּׂ֥אva./ti.Sa'and/ she lifted up אֶת־'et-<obj.>קֹלָ֖הּko.La/hvoice/ her וַתֵּֽבְךְּ׃va./Te.vekand/ she wept

King James Version

And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.

Cross-references

Isaiah 49:15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!
Genesis 29:11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud.
Judges 2:4 When the angel of the LORD had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people lifted up their voices and wept.
Ruth 1:9 May the LORD enable each of you to find rest in the home of your new husband.” And she kissed them as they wept aloud
1 Samuel 24:16 When David had finished saying these things, Saul called back, “Is that your voice, David my son?” Then Saul wept aloud
1 Samuel 30:4 So David and the troops with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no strength left to weep.
1 Kings 3:26 Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she yearned with compassion for her son. “Please, my lord,” she said, “give her the living baby. Do not kill him!” But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”
Esther 8:6 For how could I bear to see the disaster that would befall my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”
Zechariah 12:10 Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
Luke 15:20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.