Genesis 16  Holman Christian Standard Bible

Hagar and Ishmael

16 Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. ² Sarai 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 10 years. ⁴ He slept with^[b] Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she treated her mistress with contempt. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering!^[c] I put my slave in your arms,^[d] and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the Lord judge between me and you.”^(A)

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

⁷ The Angel of the Lord^(B) found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸ He 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.”

⁹ Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “You must go back to your mistress and submit to her mistreatment.”^{[e] 10} The Angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring,^(C) and they will be too many to count.”

¹¹ Then the Angel of the Lord said to her:

¹³ So she called the Lord who spoke to her: The God Who Sees,^[h] for she said, “In this place, have I actually seen^(E) the One who sees me?”^{[i] 14} That is why she named the spring, “A Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.”^[j] It is located between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son Hagar had. ¹⁶ Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.