Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🧔 Abraham's son 🚶 An outcast
Ishmael

Ishmael

13 8.4
A son of Abraham in the Bible sent away after Isaac's birth and ancestor of many Arab peoples
  • proper noun
  • /ˈɪʃmeɪəl/
  • Literature
translation icon : Ismael
  • You shall call your son... Ishmael, meaning, "God listens."
  • Call me Ishmael
  • Abraham and Ishmael
  • Ishmael (son of Abraham)

God promises Hagar and Ishmael that he will make of him a great nation.

Examples

  • Abraham, who's the father of all nations, had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac.

  • In the Old Testament, Ishmael is known as the son of Abraham who was cast out after the birth of Isaac.

  • You will give birth to a boy: Ishmael, you will name him.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Ishmael was his son, too.

    The Believer (2001)

  • We are the children of Ishmael, his first-born.

    The Ten Commandments (1956)

  • And the sons of Abraham were Isaac and Ishmael.

    Joseph (1995)

  • God promises Hagar and Ishmael that he will make of him a great nation.

    Lex Fridman

  • We believe that we are descendants of Ishmael, traditionally viewed as the ancestor of 12 Arabian tribes.

  • The story of Ishmael depicts the struggles faced by his mother Hagar and himself in the wilderness.

Surface Forms

Ishmael main

Etymology

Ishmael comes from a Hebrew name that means 'God hears', with el meaning 'God'. He is the son of Abraham who was cast out but became the ancestor of many Arabian tribes, so the name is tied to that Old Testament story.