Genesis 16

Chapter 16

The Birth of Ishmael

1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar.2 So Sarai said to Abram, “The LORD has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal.

3 So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)
4 So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt.

5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The LORD will show who’s wrong—you or me!”

6 Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.
7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur.

8 The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she replied.
9 The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.”

10 Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than you can count.”
11 And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the LORD has heard your cry of distress.

12 This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.”
13 Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the LORD, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.”t She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?”

14 So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael.

16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.

GENESIS 16

Hagar and Ishmael

1 Abram's wife Sarai had not been able to have any children. But she owned a young Egyptian slave woman named Hagar, 2 and 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.”t Abram agreed, 3 and Sarai gave him Hagar to be his wife. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan for ten years.

4 Later, when Hagar knew she was going to have a baby, she became proud and treated Sarai hatefully.

5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “It's all your fault!t 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.”

6 Abram 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.
7 Hagar 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

8 and asked, “Hagar, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
She answered, “I'm running away from Sarai, my owner.”
9 The angel said, “Go back to Sarai and be her slave. 10-11 I will give you a son, who will be called Ishmael, t 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.

12 But your son will live far from his relatives; he will be like a wild donkey, fighting everyone, and everyone fighting him.”
13 Hagar thought, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?”t So from then on she called him, “The God Who Sees Me.”t

14 That's why people call the well between Kadesh and Bered, “The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.”t
15-16  t Abram was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to their son, and he named him Ishmael.