What Does Genesis 21:12 Mean in the King James?
And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse makes listening the hinge between painful separation and a promise whose line is named through Isaac.
THE MEANING
A painful boundary and real grief stand together here: you hear Sarah’s voice answered while the seed is named through Isaac. The boy and his mother remain in the sentence as the cost of that division.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that the promise must run through the child Abraham most grieves to release; the verse names Isaac as the line while Abraham’s grief remains visible.
THE ROOT
שְׁמַע
shemaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, listen, heed; here, hear and respond.
The form שְׁמַע means “hear” as a command, and in this sentence the hearing carries a response: Abraham is to heed Sarah’s voice. English “hearken” can sound like mere attention, while the Hebrew joins hearing to what follows.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear, listen, or heed.
שָׁמַע
The verse uses this root for hearing Sarah’s voice as a consequential response.
shemuʿah: A report or news, something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
A report becomes something received through hearing; here, Sarah’s voice is received as direction.
יִקָּרֵא
yiqqārēʾ
GROWS FROM
קרא
q-r-ʾ
Call, summon, proclaim, or name; yiqqārēʾ means “shall be called.”
The phrase means that Abraham’s seed will be called or recognized through Isaac. The wording makes the promised line a named designation, not only a matter of biological descent.
ALSO GROWS
qaraʾ: Call, summon, proclaim, or name.
קָרָא
The root makes the verse’s “called” carry the force of identifying a line.
miqraʾ: A convocation or assembly; a gathering called together.
מִקְרָא
A gathering is identified by being called; the verse likewise marks which line is named as Abraham’s seed.
יִצְחָק
Yitzḥaq
GROWS FROM
צחק
ṣ-ḥ-q
Laugh; the name Yitzḥaq means “he laughs.”
Isaac’s name carries the root of laughter into the line named by the promise. The verse holds that laughter-bearing name beside Abraham’s grief over the boy and his mother.
ALSO GROWS
ṣāḥaq: Laugh, play, or mock, depending on context.
צָחַק
Isaac’s name comes from this verb, tying the promised heir to laughter.
ṣĕḥōq: Laughter.
צְחוֹק
This noun from the same root makes the laughter within Isaac’s name visible.
THE PATTERN
In scripture, hearing becomes consequential when it governs what happens next.
And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.Genesis 17:19 joins the same קרא (q-r-ʾ) root, “call”, to Isaac’s name and places the covenant and his seed with him. That shared root makes this verse’s line explicit: Abraham’s seed is identified through Isaac.
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