Genesis 16:12

12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward[a] all his brothers.”

Genesis 16:12 in Other Translations

KJV
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
ESV
12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen."
NLT
12 This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.”
MSG
12 He'll be a bucking bronco of a man, a real fighter, fighting and being fought, Always stirring up trouble, always at odds with his family."
CSB
12 This man will be [like] a wild ass. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him; he will live at odds with all his brothers.

Genesis 16:12 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 16:12

And he will be a wild man
Living in a wilderness, delighting in hunting and killing wild beasts, and robbing and plundering all that pass by; and such an one Ishmael was, see ( Genesis 21:20 Genesis 21:21 ) ; and such the Saracens, his posterity, were, and such the wild Arabs are to this day, who descended from him; or "the wild ass of a man" F20; or "a wild ass among men", as Onkelos; or "like to a wild ass among men", as the Targum of Jonathan; wild, fierce, untamed, not subject to a yoke, and impatient of it, see ( Job 11:12 ) ; such was Ishmael, and such are his posterity, who never could be subdued or brought into bondage, neither by the Assyrians, nor Medes and Persians, nor by the Greeks nor Romans, nor any other people F21; and at this day the Arabs live independent on the Turks, nay, oblige the Turks to pay a yearly tribute for the passage of their pilgrims to Mecca, and also to pay for their caravans that pass through their country, as travellers into those parts unanimously report; wherefore Aben Ezra translates the word rendered "wild", or "wild ass", by (yvpx) , "free", and refers to the passage in ( Job 39:5 ) . These people having been always free, and never in bondage, always lived as free booters upon others:

his hand [will be] against every man, and every man's hand against
him;
signifying, that he would be of a quarrelsome temper and warlike disposition, continually engaged in fighting with his neighbours, and they with him in their own defence; and such the Arabs his posterity always have been, and still are, given to rapine and plunder, harassing their neighbours by continual excursions and robberies, and pillaging passengers of all nations, which they think they have a right to do; their father Ishmael being turned out into the plains and deserts, which were given him as his patrimony, and as they suppose a permission from God to take whatever he could get. And a late traveller into those parts observes F23, that they are not to be accused of plundering strangers only, or whomsoever they may find unarmed or defenceless; but for those many implacable and hereditary animosities which continually subsist among themselves, literally fulfilling to this day the prophecy of the angel to Hagar, ( Genesis 16:12 ) ; the greatest as well as the smallest tribes are perpetually at variance with one another, frequently occasioned upon the most trivial account, as if they were from the very days of their first ancestor naturally prone to discord and contention.

And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren;
the sons of Abram by Keturah, the Midianites, and others; and the Edomites that sprung from Esau, the son of his brother Isaac; and the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob, another son of Isaac; and his kinsmen the Moabites and Ammonites, upon all which he and his posterity bordered, see ( Genesis 25:18 ) . It may be rendered, "he shall tabernacle" F24, or dwell in tents, as he did, and his posterity afterwards; particularly the Scenite Arabs, so called from their dwelling in tents, and the Bedouins, such were the tents of Kedar, one of his sons, ( Song of Solomon 1:5 ) ; the same with them to this day: according to Jarchi, the sense of the phrase is, that his seed should be large and numerous, and spread themselves, and reach to the borders of all their brethren.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 (Mda arp) "onager hominis", Cocceius, Schmidt.
F21 Vid. Diodor. Sicul. Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 131.
F23 Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 238, 239. Ed. 2.
F24 (Nkvy) "figet tabernacula", V. L. "tabernaculabit", Malvenda.

Genesis 16:12 In-Context

10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the LORD also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,for the LORD has heard of your misery.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
13 She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi ; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Job 6:5; Job 11:12; Job 24:5; Job 39:5; Psalms 104:11; Jeremiah 2:24; Hosea 8:9
  • 2. Genesis 25:18

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or "live to the east" / "of"
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