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Agar e Ismael

16 Sarai, a mulher de Abrão, não lhe tinha dado filhos. Ela possuía uma escrava egípcia, que se chamava Agar. Um dia Sarai disse a Abrão:

— Já que o Senhor Deus não me deixa ter filhos, tenha relações com a minha escrava; talvez assim, por meio dela, eu possa ter filhos.

Abrão concordou com o plano de Sarai, e assim ela lhe deu Agar para ser sua concubina. Isso aconteceu quando já fazia dez anos que Abrão estava morando em Canaã. Abrão teve relações com Agar, e ela ficou grávida. Quando descobriu que estava grávida, Agar começou a olhar com desprezo para Sarai, a sua dona. Aí Sarai disse a Abrão:

— Por sua culpa Agar está me desprezando. Eu mesma a entreguei nos seus braços; e, agora que sabe que está grávida, ela fica me tratando com desprezo. Que o Senhor Deus julgue quem é culpado, se é você ou se sou eu!

Abrão respondeu:

— Está bem. Agar é sua escrava, você manda nela. Faça com ela o que quiser.

Aí Sarai começou a maltratá-la tanto, que ela fugiu. Mas o Anjo do Senhor a encontrou no deserto, perto de uma fonte que fica no caminho de Sur, e perguntou:

— Agar, escrava de Sarai, de onde você vem e para onde está indo?

— Estou fugindo da minha dona — respondeu ela.

Então o Anjo do Senhor deu a seguinte ordem:

— Volte para a sua dona e seja obediente a ela em tudo.

10 E o Anjo do Senhor disse também:

“Eu farei com que o número
    dos seus descendentes seja grande;
eles serão tantos, que ninguém
    poderá contá-los.
11 Você está grávida, e terá um filho,
e porá nele o nome de Ismael,
pois o Senhor Deus ouviu o seu grito de aflição.
12 Esse filho será
    como um jumento selvagem;
ele lutará contra todos,
e todos lutarão contra ele.
E ele viverá longe de todos
    os seus parentes.”

13 Então Agar deu ao Senhor este nome: “O Deus que Vê.” Isso porque ele havia falado com ela, e ela havia perguntado a si mesma: “Será verdade que eu vi Aquele que Me Vê?” 14 É por isso que esse poço, que fica entre Cades e Berede, é chamado de “Poço Daquele que Vive e Me Vê”.

15 Agar deu um filho a Abrão, e ele pôs no menino o nome de Ismael. 16 Abrão tinha oitenta e seis anos quando Ismael nasceu.

Hagar and Ishmael

16 Now Sarai,(A) Abram’s wife, had borne him no children.(B) But she had an Egyptian slave(C) named Hagar;(D) so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children.(E) Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”(F)

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan(G) ten years,(H) Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar,(I) and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.(J) Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”(K)

“Your slave is in your hands,(L)” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated(M) Hagar; so she fled from her.

The angel of the Lord(N) found Hagar near a spring(O) in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.(P) And he said, “Hagar,(Q) slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”(R)

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”(S)

11 The angel of the Lord(T) also said to her:

“You are now pregnant
    and you will give birth to a son.(U)
You shall name him(V) Ishmael,[a](W)
    for the Lord has heard of your misery.(X)
12 He will be a wild donkey(Y) of a man;
    his hand will be against everyone
    and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
    toward[b] all his brothers.(Z)

13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,(AA)” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.”(AB) 14 That is why the well(AC) was called Beer Lahai Roi[d];(AD) it is still there, between Kadesh(AE) and Bered.

15 So Hagar(AF) bore Abram a son,(AG) and Abram gave the name Ishmael(AH) to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old(AI) when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 16:11 Ishmael means God hears.
  2. Genesis 16:12 Or live to the east / of
  3. Genesis 16:13 Or seen the back of
  4. Genesis 16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.

Hagar and Ishmael

16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, (A)had borne him no children. And she had (B)an Egyptian maidservant whose name was (C)Hagar. (D)So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord (E)has restrained me from bearing children. Please, (F)go in to my maid; perhaps I shall [a]obtain children by her.” And Abram (G)heeded the voice of Sarai. Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram (H)had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became (I)despised in her [b]eyes.

Then Sarai said to Abram, [c]“My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. (J)The Lord judge between you and me.”

(K)So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, (L)she fled from her presence.

Now the (M)Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, (N)by the spring on the way to (O)Shur. And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and (P)submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, (Q)“I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her:

“Behold, you are with child,
(R)And you shall bear a son.
You shall call his name [d]Ishmael,
Because the Lord has heard your affliction.
12 (S)He shall be a wild man;
His hand shall be against every man,
And every man’s hand against him.
(T)And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-[e]the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here [f]seen Him (U)who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called (V)Beer Lahai Roi;[g] observe, it is (W)between Kadesh and Bered.

15 So (X)Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 16:2 Lit. be built up from
  2. Genesis 16:4 sight
  3. Genesis 16:5 The wrong done to me be
  4. Genesis 16:11 Lit. God Hears
  5. Genesis 16:13 Heb. El Roi
  6. Genesis 16:13 Seen the back of
  7. Genesis 16:14 Lit. Well of the One Who Lives and Sees Me

Chapter 16

Abram’s Son Ishmael.[a] Now Sarai, the wife of Abram, did not have any children. She had an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 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. 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. He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant.

But once she realized that she was pregnant, she no longer treated her mistress with respect. 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.”

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.

The angel of the Lord[b] found her near a spring in the desert. The spring was on the road to Shur. 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.”

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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).
  3. 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).

16 Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.

But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thine hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.

And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

10 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

11 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.

12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

13 And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?

14 Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, 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 fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.