Genesis 16
16
Hagar and Ishmael
1Abram's wife Sarai had not borne him any children. But she had an Egyptian slave woman named Hagar, 2and so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Why don't you sleep with my slave? Perhaps she can have a child for me.” Abram agreed with what Sarai said. 3So she gave Hagar to him to be his concubine. (This happened after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years.) 4Abram had intercourse with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she found out that she was pregnant, she became proud and despised Sarai.
5Then Sarai said to Abram, “It's your fault that Hagar despises me.#16.5 It's your fault… me; or May you suffer for this wrong done against me. I myself gave her to you, and ever since she found out that she was pregnant, she has despised me. May the LORD judge which of us is right, you or me!”
6Abram answered, “Very well, she is your slave and under your control; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so cruelly that she ran away.
7The angel of the LORD met Hagar at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur 8and said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”
She answered, “I am running away from my mistress.”
9He said, “Go back to her and be her slave.” 10Then he said, “I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them. 11You are going to have a son, and you will name him Ishmael,#16.11 ishmael: This name in Hebrew means “God hears”. because the LORD has heard your cry of distress. 12But your son will live like a wild donkey; he will be against everyone, and everyone will be against him. He will live apart from all his relatives.”
13Hagar asked herself, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?”#16.13 Probable text lived to tell about it?; Hebrew unclear. So she called the LORD who had spoken to her “A God who Sees”. 14That is why people call the well between Kadesh and Bered “The Well of the Living One who Sees Me”.
15 # Gal 4.22 Hagar bore Abram a son, and he named him Ishmael. 16Abram was 86 years old at the time.
Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Genesis 16
16
1 Now Sarai, the wife of Abram, had not conceived children. But, having an Egyptian handmaid named Hagar,
2 she said to her husband: "Behold, the Lord has closed me, lest I give birth. Enter to my handmaid, so that perhaps I may receive sons of her at least." And when he agreed to her supplication,
3 she took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, ten years after they began to live in the land of Canaan, and she gave her to her husband as a wife.
4 And he entered to her. But when she saw that she had conceived, she despised her mistress.
5 And Sarai said to Abram: "You have acted unfairly against me. I gave my handmaid into your bosom, who, when she saw that she had conceived, held me in contempt. May the Lord judge between me and you."
6 Abram responded to her by saying, "Behold, your handmaid is in your hand to treat as it pleases you." And so, when Sarai afflicted her, she took flight.
7 And when the Angel of the Lord had found her, near the fountain of water in the wilderness, which is on the way to Shur in the desert,
8 he said to her: "Hagar, handmaid of Sarai, where have you come from? And where will you go?" And she answered, "I flee from the face of Sarai, my mistress."
9 And the Angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and humble yourself under her hand."
10 And again he said, "I will multiply your offspring continuously, and they will not be numbered because of their multitude."
11 But thereafter he said: "Behold, you have conceived, and you will give birth to a son. And you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction.
12 He will be a wild man. His hand will be against all, and all hands will be against him. And he will pitch his tents away from the region of all his brothers."
13 Then she called upon the name of the Lord who had spoken to her: "You are the God who has seen me." For she said, "Certainly, here I have seen the back of the one who sees me."
14 Because of this, she called that well: 'The well of the one who lives and who sees me.' The same is between Kadesh and Bered.
15 And Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram, who called his name Ishmael.
16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael for him.