Genesis 16

Hagar and Ishmael

1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2so she said to Abram, ‘The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.’

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.’

6‘Your slave is in your hands,’ Abram said. ‘Do with her whatever you think best.’ Then Sarai ill-treated Hagar; so she fled from her.

7The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8And he said, ‘Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?’

‘I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,’ she answered.

9Then the angel of the Lord told her, ‘Go back to your mistress and submit to her.’ 10The angel added, ‘I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.’

11The angel of the Lord also said to her:

‘You are now pregnant

and you will give birth to a son.

You shall name him Ishmael,#16:11 Ishmael means God hears.

for the Lord has heard of your misery.

12He will be a wild donkey of a man;

his hand will be against everyone

and everyone’s hand against him,

and he will live in hostility

towards#16:12 Or live to the east / of all his brothers.’

13She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen#16:13 Or seen the back of the One who sees me.’ 14That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi#16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

15So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

The Holy Bible, New International Version® (Anglicised), NIV®

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Genesis 16

Ishmael Is Born

1Sarai, Abram’s wife, had no children, but she had a slave girl from Egypt named Hagar. 2Sarai said to Abram, “Look, the Lord has not allowed me to have children, so have sexual relations with my slave girl. If she has a child, maybe I can have my own family through her.”

Abram did what Sarai said. 3It was after he had lived ten years in Canaan that Sarai gave Hagar to her husband Abram. (Hagar was her slave girl from Egypt.)

4Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When Hagar learned she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress Sarai badly. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is your fault. I gave my slave girl to you, and when she became pregnant, she began to treat me badly. Let the Lord decide who is right—you or me.”

6But Abram said to Sarai, “You are Hagar’s mistress. Do anything you want to her.” Then Sarai was hard on Hagar, and Hagar ran away.

7The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the desert, by the road to Shur. 8The angel said, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave girl, where have you come from? Where are you going?”

Hagar answered, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”

9The angel of the Lord said to her, “Go home to your mistress and obey her.” 10The angel also said, “I will give you so many descendants they cannot be counted.”

11The angel added,

“You are now pregnant,

and you will have a son.

You will name him Ishmael,

because the Lord has heard your cries.

12Ishmael will be like a wild donkey.

He will be against everyone,

and everyone will be against him.

He will attack all his brothers.”

13The slave girl gave a name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are ‘God who sees me,’ ” because she said to herself, “Have I really seen God who sees me?” 14So the well there, between Kadesh and Bered, was called Beer Lahai Roi.

15Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram, and Abram named him Ishmael. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

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