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Pentecost Season · Proper 7 · Year A

Genesis 21:8-21

Hagar and Ishmael in the Wilderness

June 21, 2026

Hagar in the Wilderness, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Hagar in the Wilderness, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 1835Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Corot gives almost the whole canvas to a stony valley, with the woman and child very small at the bottom and the angel barely visible above.I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her: Hosea uses the desert as the place of a second chance, and this is the woman it happened to first.Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkThe largest art museum in the Americas, founded in 1870 by a group of New Yorkers who wanted one and had no collection to start from.Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Revised Common Lectionary
GospelMatt. 10:24-39Mt 10:24-39
EpistleRom. 6:1b-11Rom 6:1b-11
Old TestamentGen. 21:8-21Gn 21:8-21Alt. OTJer. 20:7-13Jer 20:7-13
PsalterPs. 86:1-10, 16-17Ps 86:1-10, 16-17Alt. PsalmPs. 69:7-10, (11-15), 16-18Ps 69:7-10, (11-15), 16-18

Overview & Insights

"Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him." (Genesis 21:18)

After Isaac is weaned, Sarah has Hagar and Ishmael sent away, and they wander in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water is gone and the boy is near death, God hears the child's cry, opens Hagar's eyes to a well, and promises to make Ishmael a great nation.

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Take it further: Genesis 21:8-21

Commentary

Commentary on Genesis 21:8-21Commentary on Gn 21:8-21 Working Preacher

Lectionary commentary on the sending away of Hagar and God's care for Ishmael.

Genesis 21 CommentaryGn 21 Commentary Enduring Word · David Guzik

David Guzik's verse-by-verse notes on Ishmael's expulsion and God's provision.

Genesis 21:8 CommentariesGn 21:8 Commentaries BibleHub

Classic commentaries collected for the conflict over Isaac and Ishmael.

Genesis 21 CommentaryGn 21 Commentary Precept Austin

Precept Austin's commentary and resources on Genesis 21.

Genesis 21:8-21 CommentaryGn 21:8-21 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching

Reformed sermon commentary on God working through the 'warts and all' of the family.

Background & Word Study

Genesis 21:8 InterlinearGn 21:8 Interlinear BibleHub

Hebrew text with parsing for the naming of Ishmael and God's hearing.

Genesis 21 in HebrewGn 21 in Hebrew Sefaria

Hebrew and English with Jewish commentary for the story of Hagar and Ishmael.

Overview: Genesis 12-50Overview: Gn 12-50 BibleProject

Animated overview of the ancestral narratives and the two sons of Abraham.

The Church Fathers

Catena: Genesis 21Catena: Gn 21 Catena

Patristic comment on Hagar and Ishmael, often read allegorically after Galatians.

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