Genesis 16

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