Genesis 16:4-16
New Catholic Bible
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[a] 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.”[b] 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.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 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 16:4-16
Young's Literal Translation
4 and he goeth in unto Hagar, and she conceiveth, and she seeth that she hath conceived, and her mistress is lightly esteemed in her eyes.
5 And Sarai saith unto Abram, `My violence [is] for thee; I -- I have given mine handmaid into thy bosom, and she seeth that she hath conceived, and I am lightly esteemed in her eyes; Jehovah doth judge between me and thee.'
6 And Abram saith unto Sarai, `Lo, thine handmaid [is] in thine hand, do to her that which is good in thine eyes;' and Sarai afflicted her, and she fleeth from her presence.
7 And a messenger of Jehovah findeth her by the fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way [to] Shur,
8 and he saith, `Hagar, Sarai's handmaid, whence hast thou come, and whither dost thou go?' and she saith, `From the presence of Sarai, my mistress, I am fleeing.'
9 And the messenger of Jehovah saith to her, `Turn back unto thy mistress, and humble thyself under her hands;'
10 and the messenger of Jehovah saith to her, `Multiplying I multiply thy seed, and it is not numbered from multitude;'
11 and the messenger of Jehovah saith to her, `Behold thou [art] conceiving, and bearing a son, and hast called his name Ishmael, for Jehovah hath hearkened unto thine affliction;
12 and he is a wild-ass man, his hand against every one, and every one's hand against him -- and before the face of all his brethren he dwelleth.'
13 And she calleth the name of Jehovah who is speaking unto her, `Thou [art], O God, my beholder;' for she said, `Even here have I looked behind my beholder?'
14 therefore hath one called the well, `The well of the Living One, my beholder;' lo, between Kadesh and Bered.
15 And Hagar beareth to Abram a son; and Abram calleth the name of his son, whom Hagar hath borne, Ishmael;
16 and Abram [is] a son of eighty and six years in Hagar's bearing Ishmael to Abram.
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