Genesis 21:17-21

"And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of the heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thy hand; for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt."

"Hold him in thy hand ..." The literal meaning of this clause is, "Bind fast thy hand to him."[11] It is an idiomatic expression meaning, "Give him thy support now, and take care of him until he reaches manhood."[12]

This extremely abbreviated account closes out the story of Ishmael here, to return as quickly as possible to the story of Isaac. One other important thing would be related first, and that regarded the establishment of Abraham in a settled dwelling place until Isaac should reach manhood. The part that Abimelech played in that shows how necessary were the events of the previous chapter in order to accomplish such a thing.