Genesis 21:8-21

The Voice

⁸ Time went on, and Isaac grew and was weaned from his mother. Abraham prepared a special feast in Isaac’s honor, to celebrate the day he was weaned. ⁹ But a damper was put on the day when Sarah saw the son Hagar (the Egyptian girl) bore for Abraham laughing and teasing her son. ¹⁰ She became jealous and demanded of Abraham:

¹¹ Sarah’s demand was extremely distressing to Abraham, since Ishmael was also his son. ¹² But God assured Abraham.

¹⁴ So Abraham got up early in the morning, took bread and a container of water, and gave them to Hagar. He placed them on her shoulder, gave her the child—his firstborn—and sent her away. She left and wandered in the wilderness near Beersheba. ¹⁵ When the water in the container was all gone, in desperation she left the child under the shade of one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she walked off and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away.

As she sat there, she cried loudly. ¹⁷ God heard the voice of young Ishmael, and a messenger of God called out to Hagar from heaven.

¹⁹ Then God opened Hagar’s eyes. She looked up from her grief and saw a well of water not far away. She went over to it, filled the container she carried with water, and gave the young man a drink. ²⁰ God watched over him for the rest of his life. Ishmael grew up, lived in the wilderness, and became an expert archer. ²¹ So Ishmael went on to live out his life in the wilderness of Paran. When the time was right, his mother obtained a wife for him from her homeland Egypt.