Genesis 16

CHAPTER 16

Sarai and Hagar

¹Now ^aSarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children, and she had ^ban Egyptian servant-woman whose name was Hagar.

²So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, Yahweh has shut my womb from bearing children. ^aPlease go in to my servant-woman; perhaps I will ¹obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³And after Abram had ¹lived ^aten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant-woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.

⁴So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. Then she saw that she had conceived, so her mistress became ¹contemptible in her sight.

⁵And Sarai said to Abram, “^aMay the violence done to me be upon you. I gave my servant-woman into your ¹embrace, but she saw that she had conceived, so I became ²contemptible in her ³sight. ^bMay Yahweh judge between ⁴you and me.”

⁶But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant-woman is in your ¹hand; do to her what is good in your ²sight.” So Sarai afflicted her, and ^ashe fled from her presence.

⁷Now ^athe angel of Yahweh found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to ^bShur.

⁸And he said, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant-woman, ^awhere have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

⁹Then the angel of Yahweh said to her, “Return to your mistress and ¹humble yourself under her hands.”

¹⁰Moreover, the ^aangel of Yahweh said to her, “^bI will greatly multiply your seed so that ¹they will be too many to be counted.”

¹¹And the angel of Yahweh said to her further,

“Behold, you ¹are with child,

And you will bear a son;

And you shall call his name ²Ishmael,

Because ^aYahweh has heard your affliction.

¹²“And he will be a ^awild donkey of a man,

His hand will be against everyone,

And everyone’s hand will be against him;

And he will dwell ^1bin the face of all his brothers.”

¹³Then she called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “¹You are ²a God who sees”; for she said, “^aHave I even ³remained alive here after seeing Him?”

¹⁴Therefore the well was called ¹Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between ^aKadesh and Bered.

¹⁵So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

¹⁶Now Abram was ^aeighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to ¹him.