Genesis 17:20

17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. 1  I will indeed bless him, make him fruitful, and give him a multitude of descendants. 2  He will become the father of twelve princes; 3  I will make him into a great nation.

Genesis 42:36

42:36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You are making me childless! Joseph is gone. 4  Simeon is gone. 5  And now you want to take 6  Benjamin! Everything is against me.”

1 sn The Hebrew verb translated “I have heard you” forms a wordplay with the name Ishmael, which means “God hears.” See the note on the name “Ishmael” in 16:11.

2 tn Heb “And I will multiply him exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.

3 tn For a discussion of the Hebrew word translated “princes,” see E. A. Speiser, “Background and Function of the Biblical Nasi’,” CBQ 25 (1963): 111-17.

4 tn Heb “is not.”

5 tn Heb “is not.”

6 tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is desiderative here.