Genesis 21:9

mocking Better, as R.V. marg., playing. The original is the same verb, in the intensive mood, which is rendered "laugh," e.g. in Genesis 21:6. There is no need to introduce the meaning of "mockery," which would require an object. The verb used absolutely, and rendered, as in the marg., gives a suitable sense. The LXX and Latin so render it, adding words of explanation: παίζοντα μετὰ Ἰσαὰκ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτῆς, ludentem cum Isaac filio suo, as if Sarah, watching Ishmael playing with her own child, had been seized with a sudden fit of passionate jealousy. Ishmael was the elder, but he was the son of her handmaid; and in Sarah's eyes it was unfitting that Ishmael should even play with or near her own child.

The Rabbinic interpretations of this word were productive of strange speculations. St Paul refers to one of them, which understood the word to denote "teasing" and "persecution"; hence Galatians 4:29. Other more fantastic attempts at exegesis connected this verse with Ishmael's sins of idolatry, of impurity, and even of attempts to take his brother's life.