The wife of Ishmael bore four sons and a daughter, and afterward
Ishmael, his mother, and his wife and children went and returned to the
wilderness. They made themselves tents in the wilderness in which they
dwelt, and they continued to encamp and journey, month by month and
year by year. And God gave Ishmael flocks, and herds, and tents, on
account of Abraham his father, and the man increased in cattle. And
some time after, Abraham said to Sarah, his wife, "I will go and see my
son Ishmael; I yearn to look upon him, for I have not seen him for a
long time." And Abraham rode upon one of his camels to the wilderness,
to seek his son Ishmael, for he heard that he was dwelling in a tent in
the wilderness with all belonging to him. And Abraham went to the
wilderness, and he reached the tent of Ishmael about noon, and he asked
after him. He found the wife of Ishmael sitting in the tent with her
children, and her husband and his mother were not with them. And
Abraham asked the wife of Ishmael, saying, "Where has Ishmael gone?"
And she said, "He has gone to the field to hunt game." And Abraham was
still mounted upon the camel, for he would not alight upon the ground,
as he had sworn to his wife Sarah that he would not get off from the
camel. And Abraham said to Ishmael's wife, "My daughter, give me a
little water, that I may drink, for I am fatigued and tired from the
journey." And Ishmael's wife answered, and said to Abraham, "We have
neither water nor bread," and she was sitting in the tent, and did not
take any notice of Abraham. She did not even ask him who he was. But
all the while she was beating her children in the tent, and she was
cursing them, and she also cursed her husband Ishmael, and spoke evil
of him, and Abraham heard the words of Ishmael's wife to her children,
and it was an evil thing in his eyes. And Abraham called to the woman
to come out to him from the tent, and the woman came out, and stood
face to face with Abraham, while Abraham was still mounted upon the
camel. And Abraham said to Ishmael's wife, "When thy husband Ishmael
returns home, say these words to him: A very old man from the land of
the Philistines came hither to seek thee, and his appearance was thus
and so, and thus was his figure. I did not ask him who he was, and
seeing thou wast not here, he spoke unto me, and said, When Ishmael thy
husband returns, tell him, Thus did the man say, When thou comest home,
put away this tent-pin which thou hast placed here, and place another
tent-pin in its stead." And Abraham finished his instructions to the
woman, and he turned and went off on the camel homeward. And when
Ishmael returned to the tent, he heard the words of his wife, and he
knew that it was his father, and that his wife had not honored him. And
Ishmael understood his father's words that he had spoken to his wife,
and he hearkened to the voice of his father, and he divorced his wife,
and she went away. And Ishmael afterward went to the land of Canaan,
and he took another wife, and he brought her to his tent, to the place
where he dwelt.
And at the end of three years, Abraham said, "I will go again and see
Ishmael my son, for I have not seen him for a long time." And he rode
upon his camel, and went to the wilderness, and he reached the tent of
Ishmael about noon. And he asked after Ishmael, and his wife came out
of the tent, and she said, "He is not here, my lord, for he has gone to
hunt in the fields and feed the camels," and the woman said to Abraham,
"Turn in, my lord, into the tent, and eat a morsel of bread, for thy
soul must be wearied on account of the journey." And Abraham said to
her, "I will not stop, for I am in haste to continue my journey, but
give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty," and the woman
hastened and ran into the tent, and she brought out water and bread to
Abraham, which she placed before him, urging him to eat and drink, and
he ate and drank, and his heart was merry, and he blessed his son
Ishmael. And he finished his meal, and he blessed the Lord, and he said
to Ishmael's wife: "When Ishmael comes home, say these words to him: A
very old man from the land of the Philistines came hither, and asked
after thee, and thou wast not here, and I brought him out bread and
water, and he ate and drank, and his heart was merry. And he spoke
these words to me, When Ishmael thy husband comes home, say unto him,
The tent-pin which thou hast is very good, do not put it away from the
tent." And Abraham finished commanding the woman, and he rode off to
his home, to the land of the Philistines, and when Ishmael came to his
tent, his wife went forth to meet him with joy and a cheerful heart,
and she told him the words of the old man. Ishmael knew that it was his
father, and that his wife had honored him, and he praised the Lord. And
Ishmael then took his wife and his children and his cattle and all
belonging to him, and he journeyed from there, and he went to his
father in the land of the Philistines. And Abraham related to Ishmael
all that had happened between him and the first wife that Ishmael had
taken, according to what she had done. And Ishmael and his children
dwelt with Abraham many days in that land, and Abraham dwelt in the
land of the Philistines a long time.[218]