Genesis 21:17
And God heard the voice of the boy: and an angel of God called to Agar from heaven, saying: What art thou doing, Agar? fear not: for God hath heard the voice of the boy, from the place wherein he is.
Open Genesis 21:17 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Exaudivit autem Deus vocem pueri : vocavitque angelus Dei Agar de cælo, dicens : Quid agis Agar ? noli timere : exaudivit enim Deus vocem pueri de loco in quo est.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- εἰσήκουσεν δὲ ὁ θεὸς τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ παιδίου ἐκ τοῦ τόπου οὗ ἦν, καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ἄγγελος θεοῦ τὴν Ἁγὰρ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ Τί ἐστιν, Ἁγάρ; μὴ φοβοῦ· ἐπακήκοεν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ παιδίου σου ἐκ τοῦ τόπου οὗ ἐστίν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיִּשְׁמַ֣ע אֱלֹהִים֮ אֶת ק֣וֹל הַנַּעַר֒ וַיִּקְרָא֩ מַלְאַ֨ךְ אֱלֹהִ֤ים אֶל הָגָר֙ מִן הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וַיֹּ֥אמֶר לָ֖הּ מַה לָּ֣ךְ הָגָ֑ר אַל תִּ֣ירְאִ֔י כִּֽי שָׁמַ֧ע אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶל ק֥וֹל הַנַּ֖עַר בַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר הוּא שָֽׁם
Haydock's commentary
Of the boy, who was 17 years old, and wept at the approach of death.
Fear not. You are under the protection of God, who will not abandon you, when all human succour fails; nor will he negelct his promises, chap. xvi. (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine On Marriage and Concupiscence, The Censuring of Lust is Not a Condemnation of Marriage; Whence Comes Shame in the Human Body. Adam and Eve Were Not Created Blind; Meaning of Their 'Eyes Being Opened.'
Now, this being the real state of the question, they undoubtedly err who suppose that, when fleshly lust is censured, marriage is condemned; as if the malady of concupiscence was the outcome of marriage and not of sin. Were not those first spouses, whose nuptials God blessed with the words, “Be fruitful and multiply,” naked, and yet not ashamed? Why, then, did shame arise out of their members after sin, except because an indecent motion arose from them, which, if men had not sinned, would certainly never have existed in marriage? Or was it, forsooth, as some hold (who give little heed to what they read), that human beings were, like dogs, at first created blind; and, absurder still, obtained sight, not as dogs do, by growing, but by sinning? Far be it from us to entertain such an opinion. …
St Hilary of Poitiers De Trinitate or On the Trinity, Book IV
25. In another instance the Scripture reveals through Abraham that it was God Who spoke. He receives the further promise of a son, Isaac. Afterwards there appear to him three men. Abraham, though he sees three, worships One, and acknowledges Him as Lord. Three were standing before him, Scripture says, but he knew well Which it was that he must worship and confess. There was nothing in outward appearance to distinguish them, but by the eye of faith, the vision of the soul, he knew his Lord. Then the Scripture goes on, And He said unto him, I will certainly return unto thee at this time hereafter, and Sarah thy wife shall have a son ; and afterwards the Lord said to Him, I will not conceal from Abraham My servant the things that I will do ; and again, Moreover the Lord said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is filled up, and their sins are exceeding great . …