Genesis 21 · Verse 15

Genesis 21:15

And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
Genesis 21:15, King James Version

Genesis 21:15 in other translations

BSBWhen the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes.
WEBThe water in the container was spent, and she put the child under one of the shrubs.
ASVAnd the water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
YLTand the water is consumed from the bottle, and she placeth the lad under one of the shrubs.
DARBYAnd the water was exhausted from the flask; and she cast the child under one of the shrubs,
BBEAnd when all the water in the skin was used up, she put the child down under a tree.
WebsterAnd the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

What does Genesis 21:15 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
15. the water was spent, &c.--Ishmael sank exhausted from fatigue and thirst--his mother laid his head under one of the bushes to smell the damp while she herself, unable to witness his distress, sat down at a little distance in hopeless sorrow.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 15 And she cast the child - ותשלך את הילד vattashlech eth haiyeled, and she sent the lad under one of the shrubs, viz., to screen him from the intensity of the heat. Here Ishmael appears to be utterly helpless, and this circumstance seems farther to confirm the opinion that he was now in a state of infancy; but the preceding observations do this supposition entirely away, and his present helplessness will be easily accounted for on this ground: 1. Young persons can bear much less fatigue than those who are arrived at mature age. 2. They require much more fluid from the greater quantum of heat in their bodies, strongly marked by the impetuosity of the blood; because from them a much larger quantity of the fluids is thrown off by sweat and insensible perspiration, than from grown up or aged persons. 3. Their digestion is much more rapid, and hence they cannot bear hunger and thirst as well as the others. On these grounds Ishmael must be much more exhausted with fatigue than his mother.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 21:14-21

If Hagar and Ishmael had behaved well in Abraham's family, they might have continued there; but they were justly punished. By abusing privileges, we forfeit them. Those who know not when they are well off, will be made to know the worth of mercies by the want of them. They were brought to distress in the wilderness. It is not said that the provisions were spent, or that Abraham sent them away without money. But the…

Read the full comment on Genesis 21:14-21 →

Genesis 21:15 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיִּכְל֥וּvai.yikh.Luand they were finishedH3615
הַמַּ֖יִםha.Ma.yimthe water<s>H4325
מִן\־min-fromH4480
הַחֵ֑מֶתha.Che.metthe skinH2573
וַתַּשְׁלֵ֣ךְva.tash.Lekhand she threwH7993
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
הַיֶּ֔לֶדhai.Ye.ledthe boyH3206
תַּ֖חַתTa.chatunderH8478
אַחַ֥ד'a.Chadone ofH259
הַשִּׂיחִֽם\׃ha.si.Chimthe bushesH7880

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Genesis 21:15

  • Jeremiah 14:3

    And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.

  • 2 Kings 3:9

    So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom: and they fetched a compass of seven days’ journey: and there was no water for the host, and for the cattle that followed them.

  • Psalms 63:1

    A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

  • Exodus 15:22-25

    So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,

  • Exodus 17:1-3

    And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

  • Isaiah 44:12

    The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.

  • Genesis 21:14

    And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer–sheba.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
the water.
14; Ex 15:22-25; 17:1-3; 2Ki 3:9; Ps 63:1; Isa 44:12; Jer 14:3
and she cast the child.Or, "and she sent the lad," to screen him from the intensity of the heat.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Genesis 21:14

    And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer–sheba.

  • Genesis 21:15

    And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

  • Genesis 21:16

    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.

Read all of Genesis 21

Genesis 21:15 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y faltó el agua del odre, y echó al muchacho debajo de un árbol;
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et l’eau de l’outre étant épuisée, elle jeta l’enfant sous un des arbrisseaux,
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und als das Wasser im Schlauche ausging, da warf sie das Kind unter einen der Sträucher;
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Cumque consumpta esset aqua in utre, abjecit puerum subter unam arborum, quæ ibi erant.