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Selected Verse: Genesis 25:12 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Ge 25:12	King James	Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bare unto Abraham:

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Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
- Section XI. - Isaac - LII. History of Ishmael 13. נבית nebāyot, Nebajoth, "heights." קדר qēdār, Qedar, "black." אדבאל 'adbe'ēl, Adbeel, "miracle of God?" מבשׂם mı̂bśām Mibsam, "sweet odor." 14. משׁמע mı̂shma‛, Mishma', "hearing." דוּמה dûmâh, Dumah, "silence." משׂא maśā', Massa, "burden." 15. חדר chădar, Chadar, "chamber;" or חדד chădad, Chadad, "sharpness;" תימא tēymā', Tema. יטוּר yeṭûr, Jetur, "enclosure," akin to טוּר ṭûr, "a wall," and טירה ṭı̂yrâh, "a wall." נפישׁ nāpı̂ysh, Naphish, "breathing." קדמה qēdemâh, Qedemah, "before, eastward." 16. חצר chātsēr, "court, village, town." According to custom, before the history of the principal line is taken up, that of the collateral branch is briefly given. Thus, Cain's history is closed before Sheth's is commenced; Japheth and Ham are before Shem; Haran and Nahor before Abram. And so the sons of Keturah are first dismissed from the pages of history, and then Ishmael. Gen 25:12 The present passage begins with the formula, "and these are the generations," and forms the eighth document so commencing. The appearance of a document consisting of seven verses is clearly against the supposition that each of these documents is due to a different author. The phrase points to a change of subject, not of author. Gen 25:13-16 Nebaioth - Isa 60:7 is preserved in the Nabataei inhabiting Arabia Petraea, and extending far toward the East. "Kedar" Isa 21:17 appears in the Cedrei of Pliny (H. N. 5, 12) who dwell east of Petraea. "Adbeel Mibsam," and "Mishma are otherwise unknown. The last is connected with the Μαισαιμενεῖς Maisaimeneis of Ptol. (v. 7, 21). "Dumah" Isa 21:11 is probably Δούμεθα Doumetha (Ptol. vi. 19, 7) and Domata (Plin. H. N. 6, 32) and Dumat el-Jendel in Nejd and the Syrian desert. "Massa" may be preserved in the Μασανοὶ Masanoi of Ptolemy (v. 19, 2), northeast of Duma. "Hadar" is Hadad in Ch1 1:30, the Samaritan Pentateuch, Onkelos, perhaps the Septuagint, and many codices. It is supposed to be Χαττηνία Chatteenia (Polyb.), Attene, and to lie between Oman and Bahrein. "Tema" Job 6:19; Isa 21:14; Jer 25:23 lay on the borders of Nejd and the Syrian desert. "Jetur" remains in Ituraea, Jedur, northeast of the sea of Galilee. Some suppose the Druses descended from him. "Naphish" Ch1 6:19, Ch1 6:22 lay in the same quarter. "Kedemah" is otherwise unknown. "In their towns and in their castles." The former are unwalled collections of houses or perhaps tents; the latter, fortified keeps or encampments. "Twelve princes," one for each tribe, descended from his twelve sons. Gen 25:17-18 Ishmael dies at the age of a hundred and thirty-seven. "From Havilah," on the borders of Arabia Petraea and Felix. "Unto Shur," on the borders of Arabia and Egypt. This was the original seat of the Ishmaelites, from which they wandered far into Arabia. "In the presence of all his brethren" - the descendants of Abraham by Sarah and Keturah, those of Lot, and the Egyptians who were his brethren or near kindred by his mother and wife. "He had fallen" into the lot of his inheritance. Thus was fulfilled the prediction uttered before his birth Gen 16:12.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

- Section XI. - Isaac

- LII. History of Ishmael

13. נבית nebāyot, Nebajoth, "heights." קדר qēdār, Qedar, "black." אדבאל 'adbe'ēl, Adbeel, "miracle of God?" מבשׂם mı̂bśām Mibsam, "sweet odor."

14. משׁמע mı̂shma‛, Mishma', "hearing." דוּמה dûmâh, Dumah, "silence." משׂא maśā', Massa, "burden."

15. חדר chădar, Chadar, "chamber;" or חדד chădad, Chadad, "sharpness;" תימא tēymā', Tema. יטוּר yeṭûr, Jetur, "enclosure," akin to טוּר ṭûr, "a wall," and טירה ṭı̂yrâh, "a wall." נפישׁ nāpı̂ysh, Naphish, "breathing." קדמה qēdemâh, Qedemah, "before, eastward."

16. חצר chātsēr, "court, village, town."

According to custom, before the history of the principal line is taken up, that of the collateral branch is briefly given. Thus, Cain's history is closed before Sheth's is commenced; Japheth and Ham are before Shem; Haran and Nahor before Abram. And so the sons of Keturah are first dismissed from the pages of history, and then Ishmael.

Gen 25:12

The present passage begins with the formula, "and these are the generations," and forms the eighth document so commencing. The appearance of a document consisting of seven verses is clearly against the supposition that each of these documents is due to a different author. The phrase points to a change of subject, not of author.

Gen 25:13-16

Nebaioth - Isa 60:7 is preserved in the Nabataei inhabiting Arabia Petraea, and extending far toward the East. "Kedar" Isa 21:17 appears in the Cedrei of Pliny (H. N. 5, 12) who dwell east of Petraea. "Adbeel Mibsam," and "Mishma are otherwise unknown. The last is connected with the Μαισαιμενεῖς Maisaimeneis of Ptol. (v. 7, 21). "Dumah" Isa 21:11 is probably Δούμεθα Doumetha (Ptol. vi. 19, 7) and Domata (Plin. H. N. 6, 32) and Dumat el-Jendel in Nejd and the Syrian desert. "Massa" may be preserved in the Μασανοὶ Masanoi of Ptolemy (v. 19, 2), northeast of Duma. "Hadar" is Hadad in Ch1 1:30, the Samaritan Pentateuch, Onkelos, perhaps the Septuagint, and many codices. It is supposed to be Χαττηνία Chatteenia (Polyb.), Attene, and to lie between Oman and Bahrein. "Tema" Job 6:19; Isa 21:14; Jer 25:23 lay on the borders of Nejd and the Syrian desert. "Jetur" remains in Ituraea, Jedur, northeast of the sea of Galilee. Some suppose the Druses descended from him. "Naphish" Ch1 6:19, Ch1 6:22 lay in the same quarter. "Kedemah" is otherwise unknown. "In their towns and in their castles." The former are unwalled collections of houses or perhaps tents; the latter, fortified keeps or encampments. "Twelve princes," one for each tribe, descended from his twelve sons.

Gen 25:17-18

Ishmael dies at the age of a hundred and thirty-seven. "From Havilah," on the borders of Arabia Petraea and Felix. "Unto Shur," on the borders of Arabia and Egypt. This was the original seat of the Ishmaelites, from which they wandered far into Arabia. "In the presence of all his brethren" - the descendants of Abraham by Sarah and Keturah, those of Lot, and the Egyptians who were his brethren or near kindred by his mother and wife. "He had fallen" into the lot of his inheritance. Thus was fulfilled the prediction uttered before his birth Gen 16:12.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
(Compare Ch1 1:28-31) To show that the promises of God, which had been made to Ishmael (Gen 16:10. and Gen 17:20), were fulfilled, a short account is given of his descendants; and according to the settled plan of Genesis, this account precedes the history of Isaac. This is evidently the intention of the list which follows of the twelve sons of Ishmael, who are given as princes of the tribes which sprang from them. Nebajoth and Kedar are mentioned in Isa 60:7 as rich possessors of flocks, and, according to the current opinion which Wetzstein disputes, are the Nabataei et Cedrei of Pliny (h. n. 5, 12). The Nabataeans held possession of Arabia Petraea, with Petra as their capital, and subsequently extended toward the south and north-east, probably as far as Babylon; so that the name was afterwards transferred to all the tribes to the east of the Jordan, and in the Nabataean writings became a common name for Chaldeans (ancient Babylonians), Syrians, Canaanites, and others. The Kedarenes are mentioned in Isa 21:17 as good bowmen. They dwelt in the desert between Arabia Petraea and Babylon (Isa 42:11; Psa 120:5). According to Wetzstein, they are to be found in the nomad tribes of Arabia Petraea up to Harra. The name Dumah, Δούμεθα Αουμαίθα (Ptol. v. 19, 7, Steph. Byz.), Domata (Plin. 6, 32), has been retained in the modern Dumat el Jendel in Nejd, the Arabian highland, four days' journey to the north of Taima. - Tema: a trading people (Job 6:19; Isa 21:14; mentioned in Jer 25:23, between Dedan and Bus) in the land of Taima, on the border of Nejd and the Syrian desert. According to Wetzstein, Dma and Tma are still two important places in Eastern Hauran, three-quarters of an hour apart. Jetur and Naphish were neighbours of the tribes of Israel to the east of the Jordan (Ch1 5:19), who made war upon them along with the Hagrites, the Αγραῖοι of Ptol. and Strabo. From Jetur sprang the Ituraeans, who lived, according to Strabo, near the Trachonians in an almost inaccessible, mountainous, and cavernous country; according to Wetzstein, in the mountains of the Druses in the centre of the Hauran, possibly the forefathers of the modern Druses. The other names are not yet satisfactorily determined. For Adbeel, Mibsam, and Kedma, the Arabian legends give no corresponding names. Mishma is associated by Knobel with the Μαισαιμανείς of Ptol. vi. 7, 21, to the N.E. of Medina; Massa with the Μασανοί on the N.E. of Duma; Hadad (the proper reading for Hadar, according to Ch1 1:30, the lxx, Sam., Masor., and most MSS) with the Arabian coast land, Chathth, between Oman and Bahrein, a district renowned for its lancers (Χαττηνία, Polyb.; Attene, Plin.). Gen 25:16 These are the Ishmaelites "in their villages and encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes." חצר: premises hedged round, then a village without a wall in contrast with a walled town (Lev 25:31). טירה: a circular encampment of tents, the tent village of the Dur of the Bedouins. אמּות, here and Num 25:15, is not used of nations, but of the tribe-divisions or single tribes of the Ishmaelites and Midianites, for which the word had apparently become a technical term among them. Gen 25:17-18 Ishmael died at the age of 137, and his descendants dwelt in Havilah - i.e., according to Gen 10:29, the country of the Chaulotaeans, on the borders of Arabia Petraea and Felix - as far as Shur (the desert of Jifar, Gen 16:7) to the east of Egypt, "in the direction of Assyria." Havilah and Shur therefore formed the south-eastern and south-western boundaries of the territories of the Ishmaelites, from which they extended their nomadic excursions towards the N.E. as far as the districts under Assyrian rule, i.e., to the lands of the Euphrates, traversing the whole of the desert of Arabia, or (as Josephus says, Ant. i. 12, 4) dwelling from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. Thus, according to the announcement of the angel, Ishmael "encamped in the presence of all his brethren." נפל, to throw one's self, to settle down, with the subordinate idea of keeping by force the place you have taken (Jdg 7:12). Luther wavers between corruit, vel cecidit, vel fixit tabernaculum.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

(Compare Ch1 1:28-31)

To show that the promises of God, which had been made to Ishmael (Gen 16:10. and Gen 17:20), were fulfilled, a short account is given of his descendants; and according to the settled plan of Genesis, this account precedes the history of Isaac. This is evidently the intention of the list which follows of the twelve sons of Ishmael, who are given as princes of the tribes which sprang from them. Nebajoth and Kedar are mentioned in Isa 60:7 as rich possessors of flocks, and, according to the current opinion which Wetzstein disputes, are the Nabataei et Cedrei of Pliny (h. n. 5, 12). The Nabataeans held possession of Arabia Petraea, with Petra as their capital, and subsequently extended toward the south and north-east, probably as far as Babylon; so that the name was afterwards transferred to all the tribes to the east of the Jordan, and in the Nabataean writings became a common name for Chaldeans (ancient Babylonians), Syrians, Canaanites, and others. The Kedarenes are mentioned in Isa 21:17 as good bowmen. They dwelt in the desert between Arabia Petraea and Babylon (Isa 42:11; Psa 120:5). According to Wetzstein, they are to be found in the nomad tribes of Arabia Petraea up to Harra. The name Dumah, Δούμεθα Αουμαίθα (Ptol. v. 19, 7, Steph. Byz.), Domata (Plin. 6, 32), has been retained in the modern Dumat el Jendel in Nejd, the Arabian highland, four days' journey to the north of Taima. - Tema: a trading people (Job 6:19; Isa 21:14; mentioned in Jer 25:23, between Dedan and Bus) in the land of Taima, on the border of Nejd and the Syrian desert. According to Wetzstein, Dma and Tma are still two important places in Eastern Hauran, three-quarters of an hour apart. Jetur and Naphish were neighbours of the tribes of Israel to the east of the Jordan (Ch1 5:19), who made war upon them along with the Hagrites, the Αγραῖοι of Ptol. and Strabo. From Jetur sprang the Ituraeans, who lived, according to Strabo, near the Trachonians in an almost inaccessible, mountainous, and cavernous country; according to Wetzstein, in the mountains of the Druses in the centre of the Hauran, possibly the forefathers of the modern Druses. The other names are not yet satisfactorily determined. For Adbeel, Mibsam, and Kedma, the Arabian legends give no corresponding names. Mishma is associated by Knobel with the Μαισαιμανείς of Ptol. vi. 7, 21, to the N.E. of Medina; Massa with the Μασανοί on the N.E. of Duma; Hadad (the proper reading for Hadar, according to Ch1 1:30, the lxx, Sam., Masor., and most MSS) with the Arabian coast land, Chathth, between Oman and Bahrein, a district renowned for its lancers (Χαττηνία, Polyb.; Attene, Plin.).

Gen 25:16

These are the Ishmaelites "in their villages and encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes." חצר: premises hedged round, then a village without a wall in contrast with a walled town (Lev 25:31). טירה: a circular encampment of tents, the tent village of the Dur of the Bedouins. אמּות, here and Num 25:15, is not used of nations, but of the tribe-divisions or single tribes of the Ishmaelites and Midianites, for which the word had apparently become a technical term among them.

Gen 25:17-18

Ishmael died at the age of 137, and his descendants dwelt in Havilah - i.e., according to Gen 10:29, the country of the Chaulotaeans, on the borders of Arabia Petraea and Felix - as far as Shur (the desert of Jifar, Gen 16:7) to the east of Egypt, "in the direction of Assyria." Havilah and Shur therefore formed the south-eastern and south-western boundaries of the territories of the Ishmaelites, from which they extended their nomadic excursions towards the N.E. as far as the districts under Assyrian rule, i.e., to the lands of the Euphrates, traversing the whole of the desert of Arabia, or (as Josephus says, Ant. i. 12, 4) dwelling from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. Thus, according to the announcement of the angel, Ishmael "encamped in the presence of all his brethren." נפל, to throw one's self, to settle down, with the subordinate idea of keeping by force the place you have taken (Jdg 7:12). Luther wavers between corruit, vel cecidit, vel fixit tabernaculum.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
These are the generations of Ishmael - The object of the inspired writer seems to be to show how the promises of God were fulfilled to both the branches of Abraham's family. Isaac has been already referred to; God blessed him according to the promise. He had also promised to multiply Ishmael, and an account of his generation is introduced to show how exactly the promise had also been fulfilled to him.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826

These are the generations of Ishmael - The object of the inspired writer seems to be to show how the promises of God were fulfilled to both the branches of Abraham's family. Isaac has been already referred to; God blessed him according to the promise. He had also promised to multiply Ishmael, and an account of his generation is introduced to show how exactly the promise had also been fulfilled to him.

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