Ishmael mocking Isaac

[wisdom_3_5]

What is the correct translation or excact hebrew of Gen 21:9? My bible (rsv-ce) says that Sarah notices Ishmael playing with Isaac. Other translations (protestant ones) say that Ishmael was mocking Isaac.

Does anyone know of any Hebrew site that will give a good translation of this?

 

[Liberian]

wisdom 3:5:

What is the correct translation or excact hebrew of Gen 21:9? My bible (rsv-ce) says that Sarah notices Ishmael playing with Isaac. Other translations (protestant ones) say that Ishmael was mocking Isaac.

Does anyone know of any Hebrew site that will give a good translation of this?

Genesis 21:9

va-tere’ (and she saw)
sarah (Sarah)
et-ben-hagar (the son of Hagar, direct object case)
ha-mitsrit (don’t know, may be form of verb “metsar,” meaning to trouble or distress–but may also be feminine of Egyptian, Egypt being “mitsrayim”)
asher-yaldah (that her son–but prepositions are incredibly hard to translate between languages)
l-avraham (to Abraham)
m-tsakhek (probably a form of the verb “tsakhek,” meaning to laugh)

The Jewish Publication Society’s Hebrew-English Tanakh translates the verse as “Sarah saw the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham playing.”

So … the possible translations are … “Sarah saw the son of Hagar {the Egyptian | troubling } for laughter her son to Abraham.” Either they were playing and Hagar was Egyptian or else Ishmael was making life difficult for Isaac and laughing over it.

One of the things that getting a Hebrew Tanakh has done for me is that it has impressed upon me just how wild and woolly the original text is. No wonder personal interpretations are suspect.

• Liberian

 

[Shoshana]

I also possess a Tanack and mine says this: Gen 21:9…Saeah saw the son of hagar, the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. The commentary says this: Thus Ishmael’s behaviour proved to Sarah that he had become thoroughly corrupt and evil, and he had to be sent away.

(The Stone Edition) edited by Rabbi Nosson Scherman…Mesorah publications

 

[wisdom_3_5]

Liberian:

ha-mitsrit (don’t know, may be form of verb “metsar,” meaning to trouble or distress–but may also be feminine of Egyptian, Egypt being “mitsrayim”)

The Jewish Publication Society’s Hebrew-English Tanakh translates the verse as “Sarah saw the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham playing.”

So … the possible translations are … “Sarah saw the son of Hagar {the Egyptian | troubling } for laughter her son to Abraham.” Either they were playing and Hagar was Egyptian or else Ishmael was making life difficult for Isaac and laughing over it.

One of the things that getting a Hebrew Tanakh has done for me is that it has impressed upon me just how wild and woolly the original text is. No wonder personal interpretations are suspect.

• Liberian

I think this is what was confusing for me. The fact that words can have double meanings and it depends on the translator. I wonder why “the Egyptian” was chosen over “troubling”. I can understand Sarah’s point of view better knowing her son was being picked on. Otherwise Hagar and Ishmael were sent away on her whim.

Thanks so much for your response!

 

[stillsmallvoice]

Hi all!

Mitzrit on this case clearly means “Egyptian [female]” & this jibes with the traditional Jewish understanding.

The word translated as “mocking” is metzachek, a cognate of the same root (tz-ch-k) that the Hebrew for Isaac (Yitzchak) is based on. The infinitive litzchok (from which Yitzchak derives) means simply “to laugh” whereas the inifinitive letzachek (from which metzachek derives) also connotates laughter but a mocking, jeering, derisive kind. The idea is that Ishmael was making fun of Isaac about something.

See forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=580786&highlight=Ishmael#post580786.

Howzat?

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