Genesis 16

¹Now Sarʹai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar; ²and Sarʹai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my maid; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarʹai. ³So, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarʹai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. ⁴And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. ⁵And Sarʹai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my maid to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” ⁶But Abram said to Sarʹai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarʹai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

⁷The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸And he said, “Hagar, maid of Sarʹai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarʹai.” ⁹The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her.” ¹⁰The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” ¹¹And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ishʹmael; because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. ¹²He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” ¹³So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “Thou art a God of seeing”; for she said, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?” ¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-laʹhai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵And Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishʹmael. ¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishʹmael to Abram.