Genesis 16–17

¹And Sarai, Abram’s wife, hath not borne to him, and she hath an handmaid, an Egyptian, and her name is Hagar; ²and Sarai saith unto Abram, ‘Lo, I pray thee, Jehovah hath restrained me from bearing, go in, I pray thee, unto my handmaid; perhaps I am built up from her;’ and Abram hearkeneth to the voice of Sarai. ³And Sarai, Abram’s wife, taketh Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, at the end of the tenth year of Abram’s dwelling in the land of Canaan, and giveth her to Abram her husband, to him for a wife.

⁴And he goeth in unto Hagar, and she conceiveth, and she seeth that she hath conceived, and her mistress is lightly esteemed in her eyes. ⁵And Sarai saith unto Abram, ‘My violence is for thee; I—I have given mine handmaid into thy bosom, and she seeth that she hath conceived, and I am lightly esteemed in her eyes; Jehovah doth judge between me and thee.’ ⁶And Abram saith unto Sarai, ‘Lo, thine handmaid is in thine hand, do to her that which is good in thine eyes;’ and Sarai afflicted her, and she fleeth from her presence.

⁷And a messenger of Jehovah findeth her by the fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur, ⁸and he saith, ‘Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid, whence hast thou come, and whither dost thou go?’ and she saith, ‘From the presence of Sarai, my mistress, I am fleeing.’ ⁹And the messenger of Jehovah saith to her, ‘Turn back unto thy mistress, and humble thyself under her hands;’

¹⁰And the messenger of Jehovah saith to her, ‘Multiplying I multiply thy seed, and it is not numbered from multitude;’ ¹¹and the messenger of Jehovah saith to her, ‘Behold thou art conceiving, and bearing a son, and hast called his name Ishmael, for Jehovah hath hearkened unto thine affliction; ¹²and he is a wild-ass man, his hand against every one, and every one’s hand against him—and before the face of all his brethren he dwelleth.’ ¹³And she calleth the name of Jehovah who is speaking unto her, ‘Thou art, O God, my beholder;’ for she said, ‘Even here have I looked behind my beholder?’ ¹⁴therefore hath one called the well, ‘The well of the Living One, my beholder;’ lo, between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵And Hagar beareth to Abram a son; and Abram calleth the name of his son, whom Hagar hath borne, Ishmael; ¹⁶and Abram is a son of eighty and six years in Hagar’s bearing Ishmael to Abram.

Chapter 17

¹And Abram is a son of ninety and nine years, and Jehovah appeareth unto Abram, and saith unto him, ‘I am God Almighty, walk habitually before Me, and be thou perfect; ²and I give My covenant between Me and thee, and multiply thee very exceedingly.’ ³And Abram falleth upon his face, and God speaketh with him, saying,

⁴‘I—lo, My covenant is with thee, and thou hast become father of a multitude of nations; ⁵and thy name is no more called Abram, but thy name hath been Abraham, for father of a multitude of nations have I made thee; ⁶and I have made thee exceeding fruitful, and made thee become nations, and kings go out from thee.

⁷‘And I have established My covenant between Me and thee, and thy seed after thee, to their generations, for a covenant age-during, to become God to thee, and to thy seed after thee; ⁸and I have given to thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, the whole land of Canaan, for a possession age-during, and I have become their God.’ ⁹And God saith unto Abraham, ‘And thou dost keep My covenant, thou and thy seed after thee, to their generations; ¹⁰this is My covenant which ye keep between Me and you, and thy seed after thee: Every male of you is to be circumcised; ¹¹and ye have circumcised the flesh of your foreskin, and it hath become a token of a covenant between Me and you.

¹²‘And a son of eight days is circumcised by you; every male to your generations, born in the house, or bought with money from any son of a stranger, who is not of thy seed; ¹³he is certainly circumcised who is born in thine house, or bought with thy money; and My covenant hath become in your flesh a covenant age-during; ¹⁴and an uncircumcised one, a male, the flesh of whose foreskin is not circumcised, even that person hath been cut off from his people; My covenant he hath broken.’

¹⁵And God saith unto Abraham, ‘Sarai thy wife—thou dost not call her name Sarai, for Sarah is her name; ¹⁶and I have blessed her, and have also given to thee a son from her; and I have blessed her, and she hath become nations—kings of peoples are from her.’ ¹⁷And Abraham falleth upon his face, and laugheth, and saith in his heart, ‘To the son of an hundred years is one born? or doth Sarah—daughter of ninety years—bear?’ ¹⁸And Abraham saith unto God, ‘O that Ishmael may live before Thee;’ ¹⁹and God saith, ‘Sarah thy wife is certainly bearing a son to thee, and thou hast called his name Isaac, and I have established My covenant with him, for a covenant age-during, to his seed after him. ²⁰As to Ishmael, I have heard thee; lo, I have blessed him, and made him fruitful, and multiplied him, very exceedingly; twelve princes doth he beget, and I have made him become a great nation; ²¹and My covenant I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah doth bear to thee at this appointed time in the next year;’ ²²and He finisheth speaking with him, and God goeth up from Abraham.

²³And Abraham taketh Ishmael his son, and all those born in his house, and all those bought with his money—every male among the men of Abraham’s house—and circumciseth the flesh of their foreskin, in this self-same day, as God hath spoken with him. ²⁴And Abraham is a son of ninety and nine years in the flesh of his foreskin being circumcised; ²⁵and Ishmael his son is a son of thirteen years in the flesh of his foreskin being circumcised; ²⁶in this self-same day hath Abraham been circumcised, and Ishmael his son; ²⁷and all the men of his house—born in the house, and bought with money from the son of a stranger—have been circumcised with him.

Chapter 18