Sarai, Hagar, and Ishmael

1Now Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne a child for him. She had an Egyptian servant girl whose name was Hagar. 2So Sarai told Abram, “You are well aware that the LORD has prevented me from giving birth to a child. Go have sex with my servant, so that I may possibly bear a sona through her.”

Abram listened to Sarai’s suggestion, 3so Abram’s wife Sarai took her Egyptian servant, Hagar, and gave her as a wife to her husband Abram. This took placeb ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan. 4He had sex with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she looked with contempt on her mistress.

5Then Sarai told Abram, “My suffering is your fault! I gave you my servant so you could have sex with herc , and when she discovered that she was pregnant, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!”

6Abram answered Sarai, “Look, your servant is under your control, so do to her as you wish.”d So Sarai dealt so harshly with Hagare that she ran away from Sarai.f

7The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the desert on the road to Shur. 8“Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he asked, “Where are you coming from and where are you going?”

She answered, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”

9The angel of the LORD told her, “You must go back to your mistress and submit to her authority.” 10The angel of the LORD also told her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, who will be too many to count.

11“Look, you are pregnant and will give birth to a son,” the angel of the LORD continued to say to her. “You will name him Ishmael,g because the LORD has heard your cry ofh misery. 12He’ll be a wild donkey of a man. He’lli be against everyone, and everyone will be against him.j He will live in conflict withk all of his relatives.”

13So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are ‘God who sees,’ because I have truly seen the one who looks after me.”

14That’s why the spring was called, “The Well of the Living One who Looks after Me.” It was between Kadesh and Bered.

15Hagar eventually gave birth to Abram’s son. Abram named his son whom Hagar bore Ishmael. 16Abram was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael for Abram.