Genesis 16

Hagar and Ishmael

¹Abram’s wife, Sarai, had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. ²Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family.” And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. ^{a 3}So Abram’s wife, Sarai, took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband, Abram, as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years. ⁴He slept with ^b Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she saw that she was pregnant, her mistress became contemptible to her. ⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering! ^c I put my slave in your arms, ^d and when she saw that she was pregnant, I became contemptible to her. May the Lord judge between me and you.” ^e

⁶Abram replied to Sarai, “Here, your slave is in your power; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away from her.

⁷The angel of the Lord^f found her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸He said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going? ”

She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.”

⁹The angel of the Lord said to her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her authority.” ¹⁰The angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, ^g and they will be too many to count.”

¹¹The angel of the Lord said to her, “You have conceived and will have a son. You will name him Ishmael, ^h for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction. ¹²This man will be like a wild donkey. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; he will settle near all his relatives.” ⁱ

¹³So she named the Lord who spoke to her: “You are El-roi,” ^j for she said, “In this place, have I actually seen ^k the one who sees me? ” ^{l 14}That is why the well is called Beer-lahai-roi. ^m It is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram named his son (whom Hagar bore) Ishmael. ¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.