Genesis 16

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had not given birth to any children for him. She had a servant woman from Egypt whose name was Hagar.

1Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

Note"Servant woman" translates a word for a female slave, part of a household's property. In the ancient Near East a wife who could not conceive could give her own slave to her husband; any child born counted legally as the wife's, and Hagar remains Sarai's property throughout. Hagar is Egyptian, i.e. a foreigner in Canaan and far from home.

2Sarai said to Abram, "Look, the LORD has kept me from having children. Please sleep with my servant. Maybe I can have children through her." And Abram listened to what Sarai said.

2And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

Note"The LORD" printed in capitals stands for the personal name of God in the Hebrew text, four letters usually written Yahweh, which Jewish tradition avoided pronouncing and read as "the Lord" instead. Wherever you see LORD in capitals, the name is behind it. "Maybe I can have children through her" is literally "maybe I will be built up from her", a play on the Hebrew words for "son" (ben) and "build" (banah). Legal texts from the period record exactly this arrangement, sometimes as a written clause in a marriage contract.

3So Sarai, Abram's wife, took her Egyptian servant Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. This was after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan.

3And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

Note"To be his wife" marks a change in Hagar's status: a slave given for this purpose became a secondary wife, ranked below Sarai but no longer merely property to be sold. The ten-year note dates the events, Abram was seventy-five when he entered Canaan, so a decade has passed since he was told he would have descendants.

4He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she saw that she was pregnant, she began to look down on her mistress.

4And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

Note"Look down on" translates a verb meaning to treat as light or of small account. Because a slave's worth in that society was largely measured by childbearing, Hagar's pregnancy inverted the two women's standing in the household.

5Sarai said to Abram, "The wrong done to me is your fault. I put my servant in your arms, and when she saw that she was pregnant, she looked down on me. Let the LORD decide between me and you."

5And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.

Note"The wrong done to me is your fault" is close to a legal accusation: literally "my wrong be upon you," i.e. you bear the liability for it. "Let the LORD decide between me and you" is the formal wording for calling on God as judge when there is no human court to settle a dispute, the same formula appears in other quarrels and treaties in these books.

6But Abram said to Sarai, "Look, your servant is in your hands. Do to her whatever you think is right." Then Sarai treated her harshly, and Hagar ran away from her.

6But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

Note"In your hands" means under your legal authority; Abram is confirming that Hagar remains Sarai's slave rather than his wife's equal, whatever verse 3 said. The verb translated "treated her harshly" is the same one later used for what the Egyptians did to the Israelites when they were slaves in Egypt.

7The angel of the LORD found her beside a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur.

7And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

Note"Angel" means messenger. The Hebrew word covers both human envoys and God's; here the messenger speaks in verses 10–12 as if he were God himself, and verse 13 has Hagar name God as the one who spoke to her. The text does not resolve the ambiguity, and neither do translations. Shur was the arid region on the northeastern edge of Egypt; the road there ran from Canaan toward Hagar's homeland. She is heading home.

8He said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" She said, "I am running away from my mistress Sarai."

8And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.

9The angel of the LORD said to her, "Go back to your mistress, and put yourself under her authority."

9And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

10The angel of the LORD said to her, "I will greatly increase the number of your descendants, so many that no one will be able to count them."

10And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

11The angel of the LORD said to her, "Listen, you are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael, because the LORD has heard about your suffering.

11And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.

NoteThe name Ishmael means "God hears", the reason is given in the same sentence, "the LORD has heard." The word translated "suffering" comes from the same root as "treated her harshly" in verse 6.

12He will be a wild man. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him. And he will live in the presence of all his relatives."

12And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

Note"A wild man" is literally "a wild donkey of a man." The wild donkey, or onager, was a desert animal admired for roaming free and refusing to be broken to harness; the image is of an untamed, independent life outside settled territory rather than simply a savage one. "He will live in the presence of all his relatives" renders a Hebrew phrase that can mean alongside, opposite, or in defiance of, and also, geographically, to the east of. The wording is genuinely open, and different translations pick different senses.

13She gave a name to the LORD who had spoken to her: "You are the God who sees me." For she said, "Have I really seen here the one who sees me?"

13And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?

NoteThe name she gives is El-roi, which can be understood as "God who sees me" or "God of my seeing." Her sentence after it is one of the most damaged and obscure lines in Genesis; the Hebrew can be read as "Have I really seen here the one who sees me?", "Have I gone on seeing after being seen?", or "Have I remained alive after seeing him?" Translators differ because the text itself is unclear.

14That is why the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. It is there between Kadesh and Bered.

14Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

NoteBeer-lahai-roi means roughly "well of the Living One who sees me," tying the place name to what Hagar said in verse 13. Naming a well or landmark from an event that happened there is a common feature of these narratives. Kadesh was a desert oasis south of Canaan; Bered is otherwise unknown.

15Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram, and Abram named the son Hagar bore him Ishmael.

15And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.

NoteNaming the child is Abram's act here, which in this culture was the formal acknowledgment of the son as his own, even though verse 11 had told Hagar to name him.

16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael for him.

16And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.