What Does Genesis 21:16 Mean in the King James?
And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.
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
She sits far enough away not to see the child die, yet stays facing him: the distance shields her eyes without erasing her bond.
THE MEANING
The possibility of the child’s death remains stark: Hagar cannot bear to watch it. You can reach a limit where seeing another’s suffering is unbearable even while you remain turned toward them. Distance, a raised voice, and tears occupy the same moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that looking away means abandoning someone: Hagar sits facing the child, raises her voice, and weeps.
THE ROOT
הַרְחֵק
harḥēq
GROWS FROM
רחק
To be far away, become distant, or put distance between.
“a good way off” in this verse is harḥēq. The root moves between being far and making something far. Hagar’s distance has a stated purpose: she cannot bear to see the child’s death, though she remains opposite him and weeps.
ALSO GROWS
rāḥōq: Far away or remote.
רָחוֹק
The same root names the distance Hagar places between herself and the child.
hirḥîq: To cause something to be distant.
הִרְחִיק
This form shows the root can describe creating distance, echoing Hagar’s chosen space from the sight she cannot bear.
merḥāq: A distance or far-off place.
מֶרְחָק
It makes clear that distance is not only a feeling here; it is the space Hagar physically takes.
וַתֵּשֶׁב
vattēshev
GROWS FROM
ישב
To sit, dwell, or remain.
“sat” in this verse is vattēshev. The verse uses the same verb for sitting twice. Its root also carries the sense of dwelling or remaining, so her distance does not amount to disappearance: she stays opposite the child, even as she weeps.
ALSO GROWS
mōshāv: A place to sit or dwell.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch carries the root’s movement from a seated posture to a place of remaining.
yōshēv: Someone seated or living in a place.
יֹשֵׁב
The root holds both the posture of sitting and the presence of staying.
THE PATTERN
When words or sight fail, grief still speaks through tears, cries, or groaning.
Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.THE THREAD
And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.The Hebrew word qol, meaning voice or sound, names Hagar’s raised voice here and the lad’s voice in the next verse. The scene turns from what Hagar cannot bear to see to the voice the text says God hears.
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