Genesis 17:18
New International Version
And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”

New Living Translation
So Abraham said to God, “May Ishmael live under your special blessing!”

English Standard Version
And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”

Berean Standard Bible
And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live under Your blessing!”

King James Bible
And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

New King James Version
And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”

New American Standard Bible
And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!”

NASB 1995
And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!”

NASB 1977
And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee!”

Legacy Standard Bible
And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!”

Amplified Bible
And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael [my firstborn] might live before You!”

Christian Standard Bible
So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to you! ”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to You!”

American Standard Version
And Abraham said unto God, Oh that Ishmael might live before thee!

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And God said to Abraham, “Truly Sara your wife shall give birth to a son for you, and you shall call his name Isaaq, and I shall establish my covenant with him for an eternal covenant and with his seed after him.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And Abraam said to God, Let this Ismael live before thee.

Contemporary English Version
Then he asked God, "Why not let Ishmael inherit what you have promised me?"

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he said to God: O that Ismael may live before thee.

English Revised Version
And Abraham said unto God, Oh that Ishmael might live before thee!

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Then Abraham said to God, "Why not let Ishmael be my heir?"

Good News Translation
He asked God, "Why not let Ishmael be my heir?"

International Standard Version
So Abraham responded to God, "If only Ishmael would live in constant awareness that you're always with him!"

JPS Tanakh 1917
And Abraham said unto God: 'Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee!'

Literal Standard Version
And Abraham says to God, “O that Ishmael may live before You”;

Majority Standard Bible
And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live under Your blessing!”

New American Bible
So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael could live in your favor!”

NET Bible
Abraham said to God, "O that Ishmael might live before you!"

New Revised Standard Version
And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live in your sight!”

New Heart English Bible
Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you."

Webster's Bible Translation
And Abraham said to God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

World English Bible
Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”

Young's Literal Translation
And Abraham saith unto God, 'O that Ishmael may live before Thee;'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Covenant of Circumcision
17Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?” 18And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live under Your blessing!” 19But God replied, “Your wife Sarah will indeed bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.…

Cross References
Genesis 17:17
Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?"

Genesis 17:19
But God replied, "Your wife Sarah will indeed bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

Genesis 21:11
Now this matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son Ishmael.


Treasury of Scripture

And Abraham said to God, O that Ishmael might live before you!

O that.

Jeremiah 32:39
And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:

Acts 2:39
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

before.

Genesis 4:12,14
When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth…

Psalm 4:6
There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.

Psalm 41:12
And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.

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Genesis 17
1. God renews the covenant with Abram,
5. and changes his name to Abraham, in token of a greater blessing.
9. Circumcision is instituted.
15. Sarai's name is changed to Sarah, and she is blessed.
17. Isaac is promised, and the time of his birth fixed.
23. Abraham and Ishmael are circumcised.














(18) O that Ishmael . . . --For thirteen years Ishmael had been the "son of the house" (Genesis 15:3), and regarded probably as the true heir. Mingled then with Abraham's joy there was also the pain, natural to a father, of knowing that this transference of the promise to Sarah's child meant the deposition and disappointment of one who for so long had held the post of honour. Stoicism would have repressed this upright and natural feeling, but God hears and accepts the father's prayers; and while the birthright and religious pre-eminence is justly given to the son of the freewoman, there is a large earthly blessing for the handmaid's son.

Verse 18. - And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! Not implying that Abram was content with Hagar's child as the promised seed without waiting for Sarai s son (Jerome, Calvin, Kalisch); scarcely that he feared lest God might remove Ishmael by death now that Isaac had been promised (Wordsworth-); but probably that he desired that Ishmael might not only live and prosper (Bush), but share with Sarah s son in the blessings of the covenant (Keil, Longs, Rosenmüller, Murphy, 'Speaker's Commentary,' Inglis).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
And Abraham
אַבְרָהָ֖ם (’aḇ·rā·hām)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 85: Abraham -- 'exalted father', the father of the Jewish nation

said
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

God,
הָֽאֱלֹהִ֑ים (hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

“O that
ל֥וּ (lū)
Preposition
Strong's 3863: If, would that!

Ishmael
יִשְׁמָעֵ֖אל (yiš·mā·‘êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3458: Ishmael -- 'God hears', the name of several Israelites

might live
יִחְיֶ֥ה (yiḥ·yeh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2421: To live, to revive

under Your [blessing]!”
לְפָנֶֽיךָ׃ (lə·p̄ā·ne·ḵā)
Preposition-l | Noun - common plural construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 6440: The face


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OT Law: Genesis 17:18 Abraham said to God Oh that Ishmael (Gen. Ge Gn)
Genesis 17:17
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