Genesis 16
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.
maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
Genesis 16
16
Hagar and Ishmael
1Abram’s wife Sarai had never had any children by him. But she had a female slave from Egypt named Hagar. 2So she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go and sleep with my slave. Maybe I can have a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai had said. 3His wife Sarai gave him her slave Hagar to be his wife. That was after he had been living in Canaan for ten years. 4Then he slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant.
When Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to look down on the woman who owned her. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, “It’s your fault that I’m suffering like this. I put my slave in your arms. Now that she knows she’s pregnant, she looks down on me. May the Lord judge between you and me. May he decide which of us is right.”
6“Your slave belongs to you,” Abram said. “Do with her what you think is best.” Then Sarai treated Hagar badly. So Hagar ran away from her.
7The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring of water in the desert. The spring was beside the road to Shur. 8The angel said, “Hagar, you are Sarai’s slave. Where have you come from? Where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my owner Sarai,” she answered.
9Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to the woman who owns you. Obey her.” 10The angel continued, “I will give you and your family many children. There will be more of them than anyone can count.”
11The angel of the Lord also said to her,
“You are now pregnant
and will have a son.
You will name him Ishmael,
because the Lord has heard about your suffering.
12He will be like a wild donkey.
He will use his power against everyone,
and everyone will be against him.
He will not get along with any of his family.”
13She gave a name to the Lord who spoke to her. She called him “You are the God who sees me.” That’s because she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14That’s why the well was named Beer Lahai Roi. It’s still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar had a son by Abram and Abram gave him the name Ishmael. 16Abram was 86 years old when Hagar had Ishmael by him.
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