| 11. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the narrative verb vayomer {וַיֹּאמֶר | way-yō-mer} ‘and he said’, a vav-consecutive form that advances the storyline and introduces direct speech. The indirect object lah {לָהּ | lāh} ‘to her’ specifies Hagar as the recipient of the divine message. The subject is the construct phrase malakh Yahweh {מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה | mal-ʾāḵ Yə-hō-wāh} ‘angel of the LORD’, where the noun in construct links directly with the divine name to mark this messenger as Yahweh’s authorized representative.
The speech opens with hinnakh {הִנָּךְ | hin-nāḵ} plus predicate adjective harah {הָרָה | hā-rāh}, literally ‘behold you (are) pregnant’. This emphatic particle draws attention to Hagar’s condition. The following veyoladet {וְיֹלַדְתְּ | wə-yō-laḏt} ‘and you will bear’ sets the future action, with ben {בֵּן | bēn} ‘son’ as its direct object.
The clause vekarat shemo {וְקָרָאת שְׁמוֹ | wə-qā-rāʾt šə-mô} ‘and you shall call his name’ uses a perfect verb with vav to convey a command, introducing the divinely chosen name Yishmael {יִשְׁמָעֵאל | yiš-mā-ʿēl}, which the causal clause then explains.
The causal clause ki {כִּי | kî} ‘because’ + shama {שָׁמַע | šā-maʿ} ‘has heard’ + Yahweh {יְהוָה | Yə-hō-wāh} as subject, with the phrase el onyeikh {אֶל־עָנְיֵךְ | ʾēl ʿon-yēḵ} ‘to your affliction’, portrays divine hearing as a completed, decisive act. The coordinated future verbs and the causal “because” preserve the explicit logic linking the child’s name to God’s attentive response. |