Genesis 21:17

21:17 But God heard the boy’s voice. 1  The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, 2  Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard 3  the boy’s voice right where he is crying.

Genesis 44:20

44:20 We said to my lord, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young boy who was born when our father was old. 4  The boy’s 5  brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, 6  and his father loves him.’

1 sn God heard the boy’s voice. The text has not to this point indicated that Ishmael was crying out, either in pain or in prayer. But the text here makes it clear that God heard him. Ishmael is clearly central to the story. Both the mother and the Lord are focused on the child’s imminent death.

2 tn Heb “What to you?”

3 sn Here the verb heard picks up the main motif of the name Ishmael (“God hears”), introduced back in chap. 16.

4 tn Heb “and a small boy of old age,” meaning that he was born when his father was elderly.

5 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the boy just mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

6 tn Heb “he, only he, to his mother is left.”