Genesis 16
16
The Birth of Ishmael
1#Gal 4:24; Ge 12:16Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children, and she had a maidservant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 2So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Please go in to my maid; it may be that I will obtain children through her.”
Abram listened to Sarai. 3#Ge 12:4–5So after Abram had been living for ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, his wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. 4He went in to Hagar, and she conceived.
When she saw that she had conceived, she began to despise her mistress. 5#Ge 31:53; Ex 5:21Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my maid into your arms; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. May the Lord judge between you and me.”
6But Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed, your maid is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her presence.
7#Ge 25:18; Ex 15:22The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness. It was the spring on the way to Shur. 8#Ge 3:9And he said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where 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 the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.” 10#Ge 17:20; 21:13; 22:15–18The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly so that they will be too many to count.”
11#Ex 3:7; 2:23–24Then the angel of the Lord said to her,
“You are pregnant
and will bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
because the Lord has heard your affliction.
12#Ge 25:18; Job 39:5–8; Ge 21:20 He will be a wild man;
his hand will be against every man,
and every man’s hand will be against him.
And he will dwell
in the presence of all his brothers.”
13#Ge 32:30; Ps 139:1–12Then she called the name of the Lord that spoke to her, “You are the God who sees,” for she said, “Have I now looked on Him who sees me?” 14#Ge 24:62; 25:11Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.
15#Ge 25:12So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the son she bore Ishmael. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
Military Bible Association
Genesis 16
16
Hagar and Ishmael
1Abram's wife Sarai had not been able to have any children. But she owned a young Egyptian slave woman named Hagar, 2and Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has not given me any children. Sleep with my slave, and if she has a child, it will be mine.”#16.2 Sleep … mine: It was the custom for a wife who could not have children to let her husband sleep with one of her slave women. The children of the slave would belong to the wife. Abram agreed, 3and Sarai gave him Hagar to be his wife. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan for ten years. 4Later, when Hagar knew she was going to have a baby, she became proud and treated Sarai hatefully.
5Then Sarai said to Abram, “It's all your fault!#16.5 It's … fault: Or “I hope you'll be punished for what you did to me!” I gave you my slave woman, but she has been hateful to me ever since she found out she was pregnant. You have done me wrong, and you will have to answer to the Lord for this.”
6Abram said, “All right! She's your slave—do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai began treating Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.
7Hagar stopped to rest at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur. While she was there, the angel of the Lord came to her 8and asked, “Hagar, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
She answered, “I'm running away from Sarai, my owner.”
9The angel said, “Go back to Sarai and be her slave. 10-11I will give you a son, who will be called Ishmael,#16.10,11 Ishmael: In Hebrew “Ishmael” sounds like “God hears.” because I have heard your cry for help. And someday I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them all. 12But your son will live far from his relatives; he will be like a wild donkey, fighting everyone, and everyone fighting him.”
13Hagar thought, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?”#16.13 Have … it: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. So from then on she called him, “The God Who Sees Me.”#16.13 The God Who Sees Me: Or “The God I Have Seen.” 14That's why people call the well between Kadesh and Bered, “The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.”#16.14 The Well … Me: Or “Beer-Lahai-Roi” (see 25.11).
15-16 #
Ga 4.22. Abram was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to their son, and he named him Ishmael.
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
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