Discovery BoxGenesis 21:14-15 
Context21:14 Early in the morning Abraham took 1 some food 2 and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child, 3 and sent her away. So she went wandering 4 aimlessly through the wilderness 5 of Beer Sheba. 21:15 When the water in the skin was gone, she shoved 6 the child under one of the shrubs.
Genesis 21:19
Context21:19 Then God enabled Hagar to see a well of water. 7 She went over and filled the skin with water, and then gave the boy a drink.
1 tn Heb “and Abraham rose up early in the morning and he took.”
2 tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general.
3 tn Heb “He put upon her shoulder, and the boy [or perhaps, “and with the boy”], and he sent her away.” It is unclear how “and the boy” relates syntactically to what precedes. Perhaps the words should be rearranged and the text read, “and he put [them] on her shoulder and he gave to Hagar the boy.”
4 tn Heb “she went and wandered.”
5 tn Or “desert,” although for English readers this usually connotes a sandy desert like the Sahara rather than the arid wasteland of this region with its sparse vegetation.
6 tn Heb “threw,” but the child, who was now thirteen years old, would not have been carried, let alone thrown under a bush. The exaggerated language suggests Ishmael is limp from dehydration and is being abandoned to die. See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 2:85.
7 tn Heb “And God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.” The referent (Hagar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
