Genesis 16

Hagar the Servant Girl

1Sarai was Abram’s wife, but she did not have any children. She had an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 2Sarai told Abram, “The Lord has not allowed me to have children, so sleep with my slave. Maybe she can have a son, and I will accept him as my own.” Abram did what Sarai said.

3So after living ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai gave her Egyptian slave to Abram as a second wife. 4Abram slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When Hagar realized this, she became very proud and began to feel that she was better than Sarai her owner. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, “My slave girl now hates me, and I blame you for this. I gave her to you, and she became pregnant. Then she began to feel that she is better than I am. I want the Lord to judge which of us is right.”

6But Abram said to Sarai, “She is your slave. You can do anything you want to her.” So Sarai was cruel to Hagar, and Hagar ran away.

Hagar’s Son Ishmael

7The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring of water in the desert. The spring was by the road to Shur. 8The angel said, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave girl, why are you here? Where are you going?”

Hagar said, “I am running away from Sarai.”

9The angel of the Lord said to her, “Sarai is your owner. Go home to her and obey her.” 10The angel of the Lord also said, “From you will come many people—too many people to count.”

11Then the angel of the Lord said,

“Hagar, you are now pregnant,

and you will have a son.

You will name him Ishmael,#16:11 Ishmael This name means “God hears.”

because the Lord has heard that you were treated badly.

12Ishmael will be wild and free

like a wild donkey.

He will be against everyone,

and everyone will be against him.

He will move from place to place

and camp near his brothers.”

13The Lord talked to Hagar. She began to use a new name for God. She said to him, “You are ‘God Who Sees Me.’” She said this because she thought, “I see that even in this place God sees me and cares for me!” 14So the well there was called Beer Lahai Roi.#16:14 Beer Lahai Roi This means “The well of the Living One who sees me.” It is between Kadesh and Bered.

15Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram named the son Ishmael. 16Abram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born from Hagar.

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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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