Genesis 16

New American Standard Bible 1995

Sarai and Hagar

16 Now ^(A)Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had ^(B)an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. ^(C)Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will ^[a]obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³ After Abram had ^[b]lived ^(D)ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. ⁴ He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight. ⁵ And Sarai said to Abram, “^(E)May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your ^[c]arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her ^[d]sight. ^(F)May the Lord judge between ^[e]you and me.” ⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your ^[f]power; do to her what is good in your ^[g]sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and ^(G)she fled from her presence.

⁷ Now ^(H)the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to ^(I)Shur. ⁸ He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, ^(J)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 ^[h]to her authority.” ¹⁰ Moreover, the ^(K)angel of the Lord said to her, “^(L)I will greatly multiply your ^[i]descendants so that ^[j]they will be too many to count.” ¹¹ The angel of the Lord said to her further,

¹³ Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “^[o]You are ^[p]a God who sees”; for she said, “^(P)Have I even ^[q]remained alive here after seeing Him?” ¹⁴ Therefore the well was called ^[r]Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between ^(Q)Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was ^(R)eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to ^[s]him.