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Chapter 21

Genesis 21:9

RBT Translation:
And ContentiousWoman is seeing אֶת-the builder of Hagar of Dual-Strait, whom she has borne to Father-of-Tumult, is he-who-laughs.723
RBT Paraphrase:
And Contentious Woman is seeing the self eternal son of the Foreigner ("HaGar") of Dual Strait, whom she has borne to Father of Multitude, is he who mocks.
LITV Translation:
And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, he whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.
ESV Translation:
But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.
Brenton Septuagint Translation:
And Sarah having seen the son of Hagar the Egyptian who was born to Abraham, sporting with Isaac her son,

Footnotes

723

Ishmael vs. Isaac?

This has been speculated on ever since Paul’s letter where he seemed to allude to this passage as Ishmael persecuting Isaac in Gal. 4:24-29. There is no actual narrative of persecution between Ishmael and Isaac. The reality is that text here becomes surprisingly more enigmatic when we learn that Sarah saw that Ishmael [El-Hears] is he-who-laughs. The Hebrew is מְצַחֵֽק mtsacheq, the participle masc. sing. form of Isaac’s own name, יִצְחָק Yitschaq given to him in Gen. 17:19. The two instances of mtsacheq are here and in Gen. 26:8 where Isaac [He-Laughs] is laughing with his wife. Translators have always “tropically defined” words like these because of such contexts thus rendering this simple word as mocking and caressing, two rather contradictory ideas.