These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments: twelve princes, according to their nations.
Parallel Translations
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These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments: twelve princes, according to their nations.
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These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.
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these are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments; twelve princes according to their nations.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to Genesis 25:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
- Genesis 17:23 Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money: every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day, as God had said to him.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 25:16 These [are] the sons of Ishmael, and…
Gen 25:16 These [are] the sons of Ishmael, and these [are] their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.
Ver. 16. These are their names by their towns.] Which they called after their own names, as Cain did, that first built the city Enoch, after his son’s name; that he might be styled "Lord Enoch of Enoch." So, the many Alexandrias, Caesareas, Augustas, &c. See Psa 49:11.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain These are the sons of Ishmael,.... The twelve before…
These are the sons of Ishmael,.... The twelve before mentioned, Gen 25:13,
these are their names, by their towns and by their castles; their towns and their castles being called after their names, some of which we are able to trace at this distance, as the above notes show:
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twelve princes according to their nations; these were princes, or heads of tribes, and there were twelve of them, and continued so, see Gen 17:20; where is the prophecy, and here an accomplishment of it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 16. These are their names] By which their…
Verse 16. These are their names] By which their descendants were called. Their towns - places of encampment in the wilderness, such as have been used by the Arabs from the remotest times. Their castles, טירתם tirotham, their towers, probably mountain tops, fortified rocks, and fastnesses of various kinds in woods and hilly countries.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain By their castles; or, the castles, towns, and tribes…
By their castles; or, the castles, towns, and tribes of principal note, received their names from these twelve princes, or phylarks, whose authority is still recognized among all the tribes of the Arabs. (Thevenot.) (Haydock) --- The towns of these people were easily built, and more easily destroyed; for they consisted only of tents, Jeremias xlix. 31. Their castles were perhaps only sheep-folds, as the original Tiroth may signify; or they were a sort of watch-towers, to prevent the sudden attack of an invading enemy, and to serve also for a retreat. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 16. By their towns, and… castles — Rather, in…
16. By their towns, and… castles — Rather, in their village and in their encampment. “It is generally known, that the Arabs are, according to their mode of life, divided into two chief classes: those of towns or villages, and those of the deserts, or the dwellers in tents. The latter, of course nomadic in their habits, are the Bedouins and Scenitae. It is not improbable that these two different classes are alluded to in the words, ‘By their villages and by their tents.’ The roaming Bedouins regard the agricultural population with a certain contempt as slaves of toil and drudgery. They seldom cultivate the land which they may have inherited or won by their valour; but rent it out for a fixed annual sum to peasants subordinated to them in a kind of vassalage.” — Kalisch.
Twelve princes — Ishmael, like Israel, had twelve sons, who became the princes and heads of so many tribes.
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Nations — אמות, peoples, or tribes sprung from one common mother, אם.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 16. by their villages, and … encampments] The distinction…
16. by their villages, and … encampments] The distinction is, probably, between settled habitations in open unwalled villages, and circles of black tents in which the Bedouins dwell. This distinction between the permanent and the movable dwellings of the Ishmaelites is not reproduced in the versions. LXX ἐν ταῖς σκηναῖς … ἐν ταῖς ἐπαύλεσιν, Lat. per castella et oppida.
See, also, for “encampments,” the tîrôth of the Midianites (Num_31:10) and of “the children of the east” (Eze_25:4).
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twelve princes] See note on Gen_25:2. The fulfilment of Gen_17:20 (P). The “princes” are “leaders,” or Sheikhs, of clans.
nations] A technical term for “clan” (’ummah = ’ummat in Arabic); cf. Psa_117:1 : elsewhere only Num_25:15 = “a father’s house.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (16) By their towns, and by their castles.—Towns and…
(16) By their towns, and by their castles.—Towns and castles in the wilderness of Paran there were none, but we know for certain that the first of these words signified an unwalled village. (See Lev_25:31, where it is exactly described; also Psa_10:8·, Isa_42:11.) It was, however, a settled and permanent place of dwelling. The other word rendered here castle, but used as the equivalent of tent in Psa_69:25, is really a cluster of tents, the encampment of a tribe, and movable. It occurs in Num_31:10; 1Ch_6:54; Eze_25:4. As is well known, the Arabs are divided into two classes—the dwellers in tents, who are ever moving from station to station, within certain limits, nevertheless, which they seldom pass over; and the agricultural class, who have fixed habitations, are looked upon as inferiors, and probably are the remains of a conquered race. To this day they pay a sort of rent, or black-mail, to the nobler Arabs. We find, then, this distinction already existing when this Tôldôth was drawn up; the agricultural Arabs dwelling in unwalled villages, while the nomad tribes pitched now here, and now there, their clusters of black camels’-hair tents. And thus we have in these words proof that Ishmael and his subjects were not all upon the same level; for while he, his sons, and his noblest retainers would dwell in tents, the inhabitants of the villages would be men of inferior origin, compelled to submit themselves to him.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are…
These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, unwalled encampments, from hatzar, to surround; used of the movable villages of nomadic tribes (cf. Isa_42:11) and by their castles; fortified keeps (Murphy); tent villages (Keil); nomadic camps (Kalisch). Cf. (Num_31:10; 1Ch_6:39; Eze_25:4) twelve princes this does not imply that Ishmael had only twelve sons, like Israel a very suspicious circumstance (De Wette); but only that these twelve became phylarchs (Havernick). The Egyptian dedecarchy rested on a like earlier division of names. Homer mentions a similar case among the Phoenicians (Odyss., 8. 390); Thucydides another in ancient Attica (2. 15); vide Havernick"s "Introch," according to their nations (or tribe divisions).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 25:16 Ishmael’s twelve sons fulfilled God’s promise of blessing…
25:16 Ishmael’s twelve sons fulfilled God’s promise of blessing (17:20).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.