Genesis 16:1-13 ▼

1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife had borne him no [children], and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.

2 So Sarai said to Abram, |Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing [children]. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.| And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

3 After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram's wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.

4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight.

5 And Sarai said to Abram, |May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.|

6 But Abram said to Sarai, |Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.| So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.

7 Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

8 He said, |Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from and where are you going?| And she said, |I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.|

9 Then the angel of the LORD said to her, |Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.|

10 Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, |I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.|

11 The angel of the LORD said to her further, |Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the LORD has given heed to your affliction.

12 |He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand [will be] against everyone, And everyone's hand [will be] against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers.|

13 Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, |You are a God who sees|; for she said, |Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?|