Genesis 16:9

9. And the angel of the Lord said] Notice the triple repetition of these sayings of the Angel in Gen_16:9-11, containing in Gen_16:9 the injunction to return and submit, in Gen_16:10 the promise of a multitude of descendants, and in Gen_16:11-12 the name and character of her future son. Gen_16:9-10 both begin with the same words as Gen_16:11, and probably are editorial additions from different versions of the story.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gen 16:9 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

Ver. 9. Return to thy mistress.] When now she had smarted, she is in case to be counselled. There is great skill in the choice of a fit time for admonition. It is not to give a man a purge in a fever-fit.

Submit thyself.] Heb., Afflict thyself, or suffer thyself to be afflicted or humbled under her hands. The like counsel is given us all by St James, "Be afflicted, and weep, and mourn," &c, "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and he will lift you up" {Jas 4:9-10}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God rejecteth none estate of people in their misery, but sendeth them comfort.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(9) Submit thyself.—Heb., humble thyself. It is the verb translated dealt hardly in Gen_16:6. The angel therefore commands her to take the position which Sarai was forcing upon her; and by so doing proves to us that there had been no personal maltreatment. Commentators have taken this notion, not from the Hebrew, but from the English Version.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the angel of the Lord said unto her,.... The same angel; though Jarchi thinks that one angel after another was sent, and that at every speech there was a fresh angel; and because this phrase is repeated again and again, some of the Rabbins have fancied there were four angels (r), and others five, but without any reason:

return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands; go back to her, humble thyself before her, acknowledge thy fault, enter into her service again, and be subject to her; do her work and business, bear her corrections and chastisements; and "suffer thyself to be afflicted" (s), by her, as the word may be rendered; take all patiently from her, which will be much more to thy profit and advantage than to pursue the course thou art in: and the more to encourage her to take his advice, he promises the following things, Gen 16:10.

(r) Bereshit Rabba, ut supra. (sect. 45. fol. 41. 1.) (s) "te patere affligi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "quid si, patere te affligi?" Drusius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Humble thyself. The angel, in God’s name, does not blame Sarai; but gives Agar to understand that the fault was wholly on her side. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

9. Return… submit — The only way to attain the true freedom and independence. The word rendered submit thyself is the Hithpael form of the verb rendered dealt hardly in Gen_16:6. עני, rendered affliction in Gen_16:11, is from the same root. The sense is: Go back, and allow thyself to be afflicted under the hands of thy mistress. Her reward for such self-humiliation is announced in the next three verses.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the angel of the Lord said unto her as Paul afterwards practically said to Onesimus, the runaway slave of Philemon (vide Philippians 12)return to thy mistress, and submit thyself the verb here employed is the same as that, which the historian uses to describe Sarah s conduct towards her (Ver. 6); its meaning obviously is that she should meekly resign herself to the ungracious and oppressive treatment of her mistressunder her hands.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the angel said, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hand - Go home and humble thyself for what thou hast done amiss, and resolve for the future to behave thyself better.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

angel (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The angel of Yahweh said to her

"The angel of Yahweh said to Hagar"

the angel of Yahweh

See the note about this phrase in Genesis 16:7.

your mistress

Sarai. See how "her mistress" is translated in Genesis 16:4.

the angel of Yahweh said to her, "I

When he said "I," he was referring to Yahweh. When translating what is in the quote, do it as the angel of Yahweh did and use the word "I" when referring to Yahweh.

I will greatly multiply your descendants

"I will give you very many descendants"

too numerous to count

"so many that no one will be able to count them"

translationWords

angel

Yahweh

authority

descend

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

'ויאמר לה מלאך ה' וגו AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD SAID UNTO HER etc. (see also Genesis 16:10 & Genesis 16:11). For each statement (in these three verses) a different angel was sent to her, and this explains why in reference to each statement the phrase is used, “and an angel said to her” (Genesis Rabbah 45:7).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

RETURN TO THY MISTRESS, AND SUBMIT THYSELF UNDER HER HANDS. The angel commanded her to return and accept upon herself the authority of her mistress. This implies that she will not go out free from her, as Sarah’s children will ever rule over her children.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ויאמר, the word ויאמר occurs here no fewer than three times. When we encounter such a phenomenon it is usually meant to underscore what will be the subject of the message about to be delivered. [the author refers to remarks he made on this subject in his book שער דקדוק הפועלים. Ed.] It is also possible to explain the threefold use of the word ויאמר as being justified because of the three messages the angel delivered to Hagar. There are other commentators who explain this phenomenon of three the word ויאמר in this short sequence as proof that Hagar was visited by three different angels, each with a single message. (Bereshit Rabbah 45,7) The author of that Midrash uses this incident to bemoan the fact that whereas the servant maid of the matriarch rated three messages by three angels, we the matriarch's descendants, do not even rate a single message from an angel.

והתעני, and subject yourself to harsh treatment seeing that ultimately it will be for your benefit. It is better for you to remain within the proximity of a man such as Avram, seeing that due to his many merits, your offspring will multiply greatly.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.