Genesis 25:13
And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,
Genesis 25:13 stands within the genealogies of the chapter, listing the sons of Ishmael by their names and according to their generations, naming Nebajoth, Kedar, Adbeel, and Mibsam among them. The same chapter records the death of Abraham, probably the last meeting of Isaac and Ishmael, and foreshadows the characters of Esau and Jacob. The verse belongs to the account of God's providential dealings with Abraham's family, the chosen line through which the promised Seed would come. It belongs to the continuing story of Abraham and his family, showing Abraham's gradual development of faith, Isaac and his two sons with their defects, and finally Jacob's victory which made him Israel, prevailer with God.
The verse gives the names of Ishmael's sons in fulfillment of the foretelling that twelve princes would come from Ishmael, the twelve sons each becoming princes and heads of tribes. The number twelve has no definite symbolic meaning here, God simply telling beforehand what would be. The descendants of the oldest son united with the Edomites in building up the Idumean kingdom and its marvelous rock-hewn capital Petra, and some other Ishmaelites also lived a settled life. The great majority of the Ishmaelites were nomads dwelling in movable villages of tents throughout the desert region from the Euphrates westward, carrying on a large carrying trade across the desert and ravaging and plundering whenever opportunity offered.
The genealogy of Ishmael's descendants connects their line with the ancestry of the Abyssinians, identifying them as descendants of Abraham through Ishmael.