Verses 11 and 12 are in poetic form and exhibit several parallelisms. These verses may be compared with Luke 1.28-32, which share the following components:
A greeting or form of address (verse 8, Luke 1.28)
The exclamation “Behold” (verse 11, Luke 1.31)
Announcement of pregnancy and birth of a son (verse 11, Luke 1.31)
Name of the son, with its meaning (verse 11, Luke 1.30b, 31b)
What will become of the child to be born (verse 12, Luke 1.32)

And the angel of the LORD said to her: see comments on the introduction of verses 9 and 10. Behold is used here to call attention to the information that follows. The first bit of parallelism is in the announcement You are with child, and shall bear a son. Good News Translation does not reproduce the Hebrew parallelism but says “You are going to have a son.” With child translates an adjective meaning “pregnant.” In many languages there are natural idiomatic ways of expressing these things. One translation, for example, says “That baby that you have inside you, that one is a little boy, and….”

Whether the translator follows the Hebrew poetic form or not depends on whether a natural translation results. The Hebrew form should not be retained if it is not a suitable form for the message that is carried. Some translations attempt to show that the form is poetic by using line indentation; but this does not in itself make the passage poetic.

You shall call his name Ishmael: both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation give a footnote explaining the meaning of this name as “God hears.” The name can also be translated “May God hear!” What follows is the reason given for naming the child “Ishmael.” Has given heed translates the verb shamaʿ “to hear,” which is the verb nucleus in the name Ishmael.

If the translator’s language has a personal name called “God hears” that is suitable for use, the reason given in the text for the use of this name will be very evident. If that is not the case, it is important to make clear that the name Ishmael means “God hears,” “God hears you,” “May God hear.” In some cases this may be done in the text rather than in a footnote. For example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Moffatt place this information in parentheses in the text. If parentheses are not used in the translator’s language, we may say, for example, “Ishmael, which means ‘God hears.’ ” See “Names in Genesis” in “Translating Genesis,” page 8.

Your affliction: that is, “your suffering,” “your trouble,” “your pain,” or as a clause, “The LORD has heard how much you have suffered.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .