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

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.

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).

夏甲与以实玛利

16 亚伯兰的妻子撒莱,没有为他生孩子。撒莱却有一个婢女,是埃及人,名叫夏甲。 撒莱对亚伯兰说:“请看,耶和华使我不能生育,求你去亲近我的婢女,或者我可以从她得孩子。”亚伯兰就听从了撒莱的话。 亚伯兰在迦南地住满了十年,他的妻子撒莱,把自己的婢女埃及人夏甲,给了她的丈夫亚伯兰为妾。 亚伯兰与夏甲亲近,夏甲就怀了孕。夏甲见自己有了孕,就轻看她的主母。 撒莱对亚伯兰说:“我因你受屈;我把我的婢女送到你的怀中,她见自己有了孕,就轻看我。愿耶和华在你我之间主持公道。” 亚伯兰对撒莱说:“你的婢女在你手中,你看怎样好,就怎样待她吧。”于是撒莱虐待夏甲,她就从撒莱面前逃走了。

耶和华的使者在旷野的水泉旁边,就是在到书珥路上的水旁边,遇到了她, 就问她:“撒莱的婢女夏甲啊,你从哪里来?要到哪里去?”夏甲回答:“我从我的主母撒莱面前逃出来。” 耶和华的使者对她说:“回到你主母那里去,服在她的手下!” 10 耶和华的使者又对她说:“我必使你的后裔人丁兴旺,多到不可胜数。” 11 耶和华的使者再对她说:

“看哪,你已经怀了孕,

你要生一个儿子;

你要给他起名叫以实玛利,

因为耶和华听见了你的苦情。

12 他将来为人,

必像野驴。

他的手要攻打人,

人的手也要攻打他。

他必住在众兄弟的东面。”

13 于是,夏甲给那对她说话的耶和华,起名叫“你是看顾人的 神”,因为她说:“在这里我不是也看见了那位看顾人的吗?” 14 因此,这井名叫庇耳.拉海.莱,是在加低斯和巴列之间。

15 夏甲给亚伯兰生了一个儿子,亚伯兰就给夏甲所生的儿子,起名叫以实玛利。 16 亚伯兰八十六岁的时候,夏甲给他生了以实玛利。