Abram in Egypt^(A)

¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live there, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹ When he was getting near to Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know you are a beautiful woman. ¹² Therefore, when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will then kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³ Say you are my sister so that I may be treated well for your sake. Then my life will be spared because of you.”

¹⁴ So when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful. ¹⁵ The princes of Pharaoh saw her and commended her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ He treated Abram well for her sake and he had sheep and livestock, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Abram’s wife, Sarai. ¹⁸ So Pharaoh called Abram, and said, “What have you done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now here is your wife; take her and leave.” ²⁰ Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

Abram and Lot

13 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him.

The Birth of Ishmael

16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children, and she had a maidservant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Please go in to my maid; it may be that I will obtain children through her.”

Abram listened to Sarai. ³ So after Abram had been living for ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, his wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. ⁴ He went in to Hagar, and she conceived.

When she saw that she had conceived, she began to despise her mistress. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my maid into your arms; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. May the Lord judge between you and me.”

⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed, your maid is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her presence.

⁷ The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness. It was the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸ And 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 The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly so that they will be too many to count.”

¹¹ Then the angel of the Lord said to her,

¹³ Then she called the name of the Lord that spoke to her, “You are the God who sees,” for she said, “Have I now looked on Him who sees me?” ¹⁴ Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the son she bore Ishmael.