What Does Genesis 21:13 Mean in the King James?

And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.

Genesis 21:13 · KJV

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 bondwoman’s son is not erased by his status: the promise names him as seed, and that seed becomes a people.

THE MEANING

This verse holds a person’s inherited status and future in the same frame: the son is named as the bondwoman’s child, yet still counted as Abraham’s seed. His life is not reduced to the label attached to his mother; the promise gives that kinship a future as a nation.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that a person’s position at birth determines the full reach of their future.

THE ROOT

זֶרַע

zeraʿ

GROWS FROM

זרע

z-r-ʿ

To sow, to scatter seed.

Hebrew ⁨זֶרַע⁩ (zeraʿ, “seed; offspring”) holds both what is sown and a person’s descendants in one word. Here, the seed is already carrying a future: the son’s kinship becomes a nation.

ALSO GROWS

zāraʿ: To sow.

זָרַע

The verb shows the action contained in the seed image: what is sown can multiply beyond its starting point.

zeraʿ: Seed; offspring.

זֶרַע

The noun names both the seed itself and descendants, linking this son to the people he will become.

THE PATTERN

Scripture uses seed as a future-bearing word: offspring can grow into a people or a generation.

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.

Genesis 17:20 · KJVIshmael’s future as a great nation unfolds from the promise attached to him.

A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.

Psalm 22:30 · KJVSeed reaches beyond one life and becomes a generation.

For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

Isaiah 54:3 · KJVSeed carries a future that expands outward and fills what was desolate.

THE THREAD

And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

Genesis 16:10 · KJV

The same Hebrew ⁨זֶרַע⁩ (zeraʿ, “seed; offspring”) appears in both verses. The promise first comes directly to Hagar; Genesis 21:13 names its outcome as a nation.

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