Genesis 16
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 16
Abram’s Son Ishmael.[a] 1 Now Sarai, the wife of Abram, did not have any children. She had an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 2 Sarai said to Abram, “Behold, the Lord has kept me from having children; sleep with my slave. Maybe I can have children through her.”
Abram did what Sarai had told him to do. 3 Thus, ten years after Abram had begun to live in the land of Canaan, Sarai, the wife of Abram, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant.
But once she realized that she was pregnant, she no longer treated her mistress with respect. 5 Therefore, Sarai said to Abram, “May this affront fall upon you! I gave you my maid to embrace, but when she realized that she was pregnant, she stopped treating me with respect. Let the Lord judge between you and me.”
6 Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your slave is in your hands. Do with her as you see fit.” Sarai then maltreated her so much that Hagar ran away.
7 The angel of the Lord[b] found her near a spring in the desert. The spring was on the road to Shur. 8 The angel said to her, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She answered, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”
9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and be obedient to her.” 10 The angel of the Lord continued, “I will multiply the number of your descendants so much that you will not be able to count them.”
11 The angel of the Lord added,
“Behold, you are pregnant:
you will bear a son
and call him Ishmael,
for the Lord has listened to you in your distress.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against all
and the hands of all will be against him.
He will be opposed to all of his brothers.”
13 Hagar gave a name to the Lord who had spoken to her, “You are the God of the Vision.”[c] Therefore, she said, “Here I remained alive after having received this vision.” 14 Because of this, the well is called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kedesh and Bered.
15 Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son. Abram named the son whom Hagar had borne Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.
Footnotes
- Genesis 16:1 The passage is Yahwist with additions from the Priestly tradition. By personal choice Abraham is monogamous and ready to die without sons rather than show disrespect to his wife Sarai (see Gen 15:2-3).
He does, however, yield to Sarai’s insistence that he follow an ancient practice that was acceptable in cases of barrenness and found a place in Mesopotamian codes of law. - Genesis 16:7 The angel of the Lord: in these ancient stories this is a conventional way of signifying sensible manifestations of God himself, “the God of the Vision” (v. 13).
- Genesis 16:13 The God of the Vision: in Hebrew, El-Roi. Hagar was amazed that she remained alive after seeing God—in contrast to the ancient belief that a person died upon seeing God (see Gen 32:31; Ex 20:19; Deut 4:33; Jdg 13:22).
Genesis 16
1599 Geneva Bible
16 3 Sarai being barren giveth Hagar to Abram. 4 Which conceiveth and despiseth her dame: 6 And being ill handled, fleeth. 7 The Angel comforteth her. 11, 12 The name and manners of her son. 13 She calleth upon the Lord, whom she findeth true.
1 Now [a]Sarai Abram’s wife bore him no children, and she had a maid an Egyptian, Hagar by name.
2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath [b]restrained me from childbearing, I pray thee go in unto my maid: [c]it may be that I shall [d]receive a child by her. And Abram obeyed the voice of Sarai.
3 Then Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelled ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram for his wife.
4 ¶ And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her dame was [e]despised in her eyes.
5 Then Sarai said to Abram, [f]Thou doest me wrong, I have given my maid into thy bosom, and she seeth that she hath conceived, and I am despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.
6 Then Abram said to Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thine [g]hand: do with her as it pleaseth thee. Then Sarai dealt roughly with her: wherefore she fled from her.
7 ¶ But the [h]Angel of the Lord found her beside a fountain in the way of Shur,
8 And he said, Hagar Sarai’s maid, whence comest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from my dame Sarai.
9 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, [i]Return to thy dame, and humble thyself under her hands.
10 Again the Angel of the Lord said unto her, I will so greatly increase thy seed, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
11 Also the Angel of the Lord said unto her, See, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael: for the Lord hath heard thy tribulation.
12 And he shall be a [j]wild man: his hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him, (A)and [k]he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
13 Then she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God lookest on me: for she said, [l]Have I not also here looked after him that seeth me?
14 (B)Wherefore the Well was called, [m]Beer Lahai Roi: lo, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
15 ¶ And Hagar bare Abram a son, and Abram called his son’s name which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
16 And Abram was four score and six years old when Hagar bare him Ishmael.
Footnotes
- Genesis 16:1 It seemeth that she had respect to God’s promise, which could not be accomplished without issue.
- Genesis 16:2 She faileth in binding God’s power to the common order of nature, as though God could not give her children in her old age.
- Genesis 16:2 Or, peradventure.
- Genesis 16:2 Hebrew, be built by her.
- Genesis 16:4 This punishment declareth what they gain that attempt anything against the word of God.
- Genesis 16:5 Hebrew, mine injury is upon thee.
- Genesis 16:6 Or, power.
- Genesis 16:7 Which was Christ, as appeareth verse 13 and Gen. 18:17.
- Genesis 16:9 God rejecteth none estate of people in their misery, but sendeth them comfort.
- Genesis 16:12 Or, fierce and cruel, or; as a wild ass.
- Genesis 16:12 That is, the Ishmaelites shall be a peculiar people by themselves, and not a portion of another people.
- Genesis 16:13 She rebuketh her own dullness and acknowledgeth God’s graces, who was present with her everywhere.
- Genesis 16:14 Or, the well of the living, and seeing me.
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