Genesis 16

Hagar and Ishmael

16Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. ²Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family.” And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. ^s3So Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan 10 years. ⁴He slept with ^tHagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she treated her mistress with contempt. ⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering! ^uI put my slave in your arms, ^vand ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the Lord judge between me and you.” ^w

⁶Abram replied to Sarai, “Here, your slave is in your hands; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away from her.

⁷The Angel of the Lord ^xfound her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸He said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”

She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.”

⁹Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “You must go back to your mistress and submit to her mistreatment.” ^y10The Angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, ^zand they will be too many to count.”

¹¹Then the Angel of the Lord said to her:

You have conceived and will have a son.

You will name him Ishmael, ^a

for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction.

¹²This man will be like a wild donkey.

His hand will be against everyone,

and everyone’s hand will be against him;

he will live at odds with ^ball his brothers. ^c

¹³So she called the Lord who spoke to her: The God Who Sees, ^dfor she said, “In this place, have I actually seen ^ethe One who sees me?” ^f14That is why she named the spring, “A Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.” ^gIt is located between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son Hagar had. ¹⁶Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.