As a nomadic inhabitant of the Paran Wilderness, he fulfilled the prophecy that said of him: “He will become a zebra of a man. His hand will be against everyone, and the hand of everyone will be against him; and before the face of all his brothers he will tabernacle.” (Ge 21:17-21; 16:12)

Ishmael himself was “a zebra of a man,” that is, a restless wanderer who roamed the Wilderness of Paran and lived by his bow and arrows.