Chapter 16

Chapter 16

1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar;

2 so Sarai said to Abram, “Look, The Sovereign, The Self-Existent has prevented me from having children. Please, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

Abram agreed to Sarai’s plan.

3 So after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan for 10 years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram to be his secondary wife.

4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant.

When Hagar realized she was pregnant, she looked down on her mistress.

5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “This wrong done to me is your fault! I placed my maidservant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she looks down on me. May The Sovereign, The Self-Existent judge between you and me.”

6 “Look,” Abram replied to Sarai, “your maidservant is under your control. Do to her whatever you think is right.” Then Sarai treated her so harshly that Hagar fled from her.

7 A Messenger of The Sovereign, The Self-Existent discovered Hagar near a spring in the wilderness—the spring beside the road to Shur.

8 He asked, “Hagar, maidservant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

She replied, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.”

9 The Messenger of The Sovereign, The Self-Existent commanded her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.”

10 Speaking with the absolute authority of the one who sent him, the Messenger continued, “I will multiply your offspring so vastly that they will be too numerous to count.”

11 The Messenger further declared, “Look, you are pregnant and will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael (The All-Powerful One Hears), because The Sovereign, The Self-Existent has paid attention to your misery.

12 He will be an untamed wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him, yet he will pitch his tents right alongside all his relatives.”

13 Hagar addressed The Sovereign, The Self-Existent, who had spoken to her, saying, “You are The All-Powerful One who sees me,” for she realized, “Have I really remained alive here after seeing Him?”

14 Therefore the well was named Beer Lahai Roi (The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me); it is located between Kadesh and Bered.

15 So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram named the son she bore Ishmael.

16 Abram was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.