Genesis 17:20

Summary

God responds to a request concerning Ishmael, declaring that he has heard it. He announces a series of completed/certain future actions: blessing, fruitfulness, multiplication, the fathering of twelve princes, and the making of Ishmael into a great nation.

Key words

• sh'ma'ti ("I have heard", H8085G) — qal perfect, 1st person: a completed act of hearing, referring to the preceding request concerning Ishmael.
• berakhti ("I will bless", H1288) — piel perfect, 1st person: an intensive verbal stem denoting a decisive act of blessing, grammatically framed as already completed (perfect) though referring to future effect.
• hifreiti ("I will make fruitful", H6509) — hiphil sequential perfect: causative stem ("cause to be fruitful"), linked to the previous verb by the narrative vav, continuing the chain of declared actions.
• hirbeiti ("I will multiply", H7235A) — hiphil sequential perfect: causative, "cause to increase," parallel in form to hifreiti, extending the same sequence.
• goy gadol ("a great nation", H1471A + H1419A) — noun + adjective, masculine singular: the stated outcome toward which the sequence of actions moves.

What the text says

The verse opens with u-le-Yishma'el ("and to/concerning Ishmael"), placing Ishmael as the topic before the verb, a common Hebrew fronting pattern that marks a shift of subject within the speech. The first clause, sh'ma'tikha ("I have heard you"), uses a qal perfect verb with a 2nd-person suffix, describing a completed act of hearing directed at the addressee (Abraham), referring to the preceding request about Ishmael.

After the interjection hinneh ("here!", H2009), which draws attention to what follows, the text presents a chain of four verbs describing what will happen to Ishmael: berakhti ("I will bless him"), hifreiti ("I will make him fruitful"), hirbeiti ("I will multiply him"), and later netati ("I will make him"). The first is a piel perfect; the next three are marked in the data as "sequential perfect," each introduced by the narrative vav (ve-), which chains them together as a continuing series of declarations rather than isolated statements. Grammatically these are perfect-tense forms, but functioning in sequence after hinneh, they carry forward the force of the announcement.

The multiplication is intensified by the doubled noun bi-me'od me'od ("with muchness, muchness", H3966 repeated), a construction using repetition of the same word to express a high degree, rendered by translations as "greatly" or "exceedingly."

The number of descendants is given as shneim-asar nesi'im ("twelve princes", H8147 + H6240 + H5387A), with the verb yolid ("he will father", H3205) in the hiphil imperfect, marking this as an ongoing/future action distinct from the preceding perfect-tense chain. The final result, goy gadol ("a great nation"), closes the sequence with a noun-adjective phrase in the masculine singular.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew nesi'im ("princes", H5387A) is rendered by the LXX as ἔθνη ("nations"), producing "twelve nations" rather than "twelve princes," while the Vulgate uses duces ("leaders/chiefs"), closer to the Hebrew sense of "princes/leaders." The LXX also renders sh'ma'tikha with ἐπήκουσά σου ("I have heeded/heard you"), while the Vulgate uses exaudivi te ("I have heard/granted you"), both compatible with the Hebrew qal perfect but with slightly different verbal nuance (hearing vs. granting).