Genesis 17:20

Gen 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

Ver. 20. And us for Ishmael, I have heard thee.] Faithful prayer may have anything at God’s hands. It is but ask and have, with Abraham. As Zedekiah said to his courtiers glossingly, God saith to his servants seriously, The King can deny you nothing. Let this encourage us to pray for ourselves and children; for by prayer we may take out of God’s treasury, plentiful mercy for ourselves and ours.

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.

Gen 17:20. As for Ishmael, I have heard thee; I have blessed him — That is, I have many blessings in store for him. 1st, His posterity shall be numerous: I will multiply him exceedingly. 2d, They shall be considerable: twelve princes shall he beget. We may charitably hope that spiritual blessings also were bestowed upon him, though the visible church was not brought out of his loins.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17:20-21 Ishmael would not be abandoned; his family would prosper (see 25:13-16), but the covenant promises were for Isaac.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hebrew, greatly, greatly.

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

Verse 20. Twelve princes shall he beget, &c.] See the names of these twelve princes, Ge 25:12-16. From Ishmael proceeded the various tribes of the Arabs, called also Saracens by Christian writers. They were anciently, and still continue to be, a very numerous and powerful people. "It was somewhat wonderful, and not to be foreseen by human sagacity," says Bishop Newton, "that a man's whole posterity should so nearly resemble him, and retain the same inclinations, the same habits, and the same customs, throughout all ages! These are the only people besides the Jews who have subsisted as a distinct people from the beginning, and in some respects they very much resemble each other

1. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are descended from Abraham, and both boast of their descent from the father of the faithful.

2. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are circumcised, and both profess to have derived this ceremony from Abraham.

3. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, had originally twelve patriarchs, who were their princes or governors.

4. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, marry among themselves, and in their own tribes.

5. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are singular in several of their customs, and are standing monuments to all ages of the exactness of the Divine predictions, and of the veracity of Scripture history.

We may with more confidence believe the particulars related of Abraham and Ishmael when we see them verified in their posterity at this day. This is having, as it were, ocular demonstration for our faith." See Bp. Newton's Second Dissertation on the Prophecies, and See Clarke on Ge 16:12.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. And as for Ishmael. He here more clearly discriminates between the two sons of Abraham. For in promising to the one wealth, dignity, and other things pertaining to the present life, he proves him to be a son according to the flesh. But he makes a special covenant with Isaac, which rises above the world and this frail life: not for the sake of cutting Ishmael off from the hope of eternal life, but in order to teach him that salvation is to be sought from the race of Isaac, where it really dwells. We infers however, from this passage, that the holy fathers were by no means kept down to earth, by the promises of God, but rather were borne upwards to heaven. For God liberally and profusely promises to Ishmael whatever is desirable with respect to this earthly life: and yet He accounts as nothing all the gifts He confers on him, in comparison with the covenant which was to be established in Isaac. It therefore follow, that neither wealth, nor power, nor any other temporal gift, is promised to the sons of the Spirit, but an eternal blessing, which is possessed only by hope, in this world. Therefore, however we may now abound in delights, and in all good things, our happiness is still transient, unless by faith we penetrate into the celestial kingdom of God, where a greater and higher blessing is laid up for us.

It is however asked, whether Abraham had respect only to this earthly life when he prayed for his son? For this the Lord seems to intimate, when he declares that he had granted what Abraham asked, and yet only mentions the things we have recorded. But it was not God’s design to fulfill the whole wish of Abraham on this point; only he makes it plain that he would have some respect to Ishmael, for whom Abraham had entreated; so as to show that the fathers prayer had not been in vain. For he meant to testify that he embraced Abraham with such love, that, for his sake, he had respect to his whole race, and dignified it with peculiar benefits.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

20. as for Ishmael, I have heard thee] This verse contains the reply to Abraham’s spoken words in Gen_17:18. “I have heard thee” contains a reference to the meaning of the name “Ishmael” = “God hears.” See note on Gen_16:11.

twelve princes] Recorded in Gen_25:13-16. As in the family of Israel, so also in that of Ishmael, the number “twelve” symbolizes the distribution and organization of a people under responsible leaders, and represents ancient usage.

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.

And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee, &c. Took notice of his prayer for him, and accepted of and would answer him, and did, as follows:

behold, I have blessed him; determined in his mind to bless him, promised to bless him, Gen 16:10; had blessings laid up and in reserve for him:

and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; as he did, many of the Arabian nations, the Hagarenes, Saracens, and Turks, all springing from him:

twelve princes shall he beget; whose names are given, Gen 25:13; and their number there exactly agrees with this prophecy. Melo (s), the Heathen writer above mentioned, says, that Abraham, of his other wife, the Egyptian servant (that is, Hagar), begat twelve sons, which he mistakes for twelve sons of Ishmael, his son by Hagar; and, adds he, these going into Arabia, divided the country among them, and were the first that reigned over the inhabitants of it; hence down to our times the kings of the Arabians have twelve names like to those. So the Saracens were divided into twelve tribes, of which there were so many "phylarchi", or governors; and the Turks also are divided into the same number of tribes (t). And

I will make him a great nation; as the nation of the Turks especially is; and the Turkish empire is frequently called in Jewish writings the kingdom of Ishmael, as the Arabic language is called the Ishmaelitish language.

(s) Apud. Euseb. ut supra. (Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 19. p. 421.) (t) Vid. Vales. Not. in Ammian. Marcellin. l. 24. p. 283.

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

Nation of Arabs, who are still divided into twelve tribes. See chap. xxv. 13. (Calmet)

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).

Have heard thee, to wit, in part, or so far as is here expressed; and probably, as to the chief blessing of the covenant, to wit, the forgiveness of his sins, and eternal life, as the Hebrew doctors and some others collect from Gen 25:17, and from other considerations.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. Ishmael, I have heard — Allusion to the meaning of the name, God will hear. See Gen_16:11, note.

Twelve princes — See Gen_25:12-16.

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

And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee (meaning, also, "and will grant thy prayer; an allusion to the significance of the name Ishmael, "God hears"): Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he begot (vide, Gen_25:12-16) and I will make him a great nation.

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

As for Ishmael, I have heard thee; I have blessed him - That is, I have many blessings in store for him.

1. His posterity shall be numerous; I will multiply him exceedingly;

2. They shall be considerable; twelve princes shall he beget. We may charitably hope that spiritual blessings also were bestowed upon him, though the visible church was not brought out of his loins.

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

שנים עשר נשיאים TWELVE PRINCES — like clouds shall they vanish, the word נשיאים being explained here as the same word in (Proverbs 25:14) נשיאים ורוח “Clouds and wind”

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.

ולישמעאל שמעתיך, to bless him, to make him fruitful so that he will multiply and to grant him international prominence. שנים עשר נשיאים, "will be descended from Ishmael, just as from Yitzchok. In fact I have already ברכתי אותו, blessed him by means of the angel who appeared to Hagar, and I took personally, will bless Ishmael. But this covenant which I have entered into with you I will maintain with Yitzchok.

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.