Genesis 16
16
Sarai and Hagar
1Now#Or “And” Sarai, the wife of Abram, had borne him no children. And she had a female Egyptian servant, and her name was Hagar. 2And Sarai said to Abram, “Look, please, Yahweh has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my servant; perhaps I will have children by her.”#Literally “I will be built from her” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3Then#Or “And” Sarai, the wife of Abram, took Hagar, her Egyptian servant, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband as his wife. 4And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she#That is, Hagar saw that she had conceived, then her mistress grew small in her eyes. 5And Sarai said to Abram, “may my harm be upon you. I had my servant sleep with you,#Literally “I put my servant in your lap” and when she saw that she had conceived, she no longer respected me.#Literally “I grew small in her eyes” May Yahweh judge between me and you!” 6And Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your servant is under your authority.#Literally “in your hand” Do to her that which is good in your eyes.” And Sarai mistreated her, and she#That is, Hagar fled from her presence.
Hagar and the Angel of Yahweh
7And the angel of Yahweh found her at a spring of water in the wilderness, at the spring by the road of Shur. 8And he said to Hagar, the servant of Sarai, “From where#Literally “where from this” have you come, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of Sarai my mistress.” 9Then#Or “And” the angel of Yahweh said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit yourself under her authority.”#Literally “her hand” 10And the angel of Yahweh said to her, “I will greatly multiply#Literally “multiplying I will multiply” your offspring, so that they cannot be counted for their abundance.” 11And the angel of Yahweh said to her:
“Behold, you are pregnant
and shall have a son.
And you shall call his name Ishmael,
for Yahweh has listened to your suffering.
12And he shall be a wild donkey of a man,
his hand will be against everyone,
and the hand of everyone will be against him,
and he will live in hostility with all his brothers.”#Literally “against the face of all his brothers”
13So#Or “And” she called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are El-Roi,”#“God of seeing” for she said, “Here I have seen after he who sees me.” 14Therefore the well was called Beer-Lahai-Roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. 15And Hagar had a child for Abram, a son. And Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore to him, Ishmael. 16And Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
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Genesis 16
16
1-2Sarai, Abram’s wife, hadn’t yet produced a child.
She had an Egyptian maid named Hagar. Sarai said to Abram, “God has not seen fit to let me have a child. Sleep with my maid. Maybe I can get a family from her.” Abram agreed to do what Sarai said.
3-4So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took her Egyptian maid Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. Abram had been living ten years in Canaan when this took place. He slept with Hagar and she got pregnant. When Hagar learned she was pregnant, she looked down on her mistress.
5Sarai told Abram, “It’s all your fault that I’m suffering this abuse. I put my maid in bed with you and the minute she knows she’s pregnant, she treats me like I’m nothing. May God decide which of us is right.”
6“You decide,” said Abram. “Your maid is your business.”
Sarai was abusive to Hagar and Hagar ran away.
7-8An angel of God found her beside a spring in the desert; it was the spring on the road to Shur. He said, “Hagar, maid of Sarai, what are you doing here?”
She said, “I’m running away from Sarai my mistress.”
9-12The angel of God said, “Go back to your mistress. Put up with her abuse.” He continued, “I’m going to give you a big family, children past counting.
From this pregnancy, you’ll get a son: Name him Ishmael;
for God heard you, God answered you.
He’ll be a bucking bronco of a man,
a real fighter, fighting and being fought,
Always stirring up trouble,
always at odds with his family.”
13She answered God by name, praying to the God who spoke to her, “You’re the God who sees me!
“Yes! He saw me; and then I saw him!”
14That’s how that desert spring got named “God-Alive-Sees-Me Spring.” That spring is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15-16Hagar gave Abram a son. Abram named him Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave him his son, Ishmael.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.