Genesis 16:1-13 ▼

1 Now Abram's wife Sarai had not borne a child for him. She had an Egyptian servant girl whose name was Hagar.

2 So 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 son through her.| Abram listened to Sarai's suggestion,

3 so Abram's wife Sarai took her Egyptian servant, Hagar, and gave her as a wife to her husband Abram. This took place ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.

4 He had sex with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she looked with contempt on her mistress.

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

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

7 The 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.|

9 The angel of the LORD told her, |You must go back to your mistress and submit to her authority.|

10 The 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, because the LORD has heard your cry of misery.

12 He'll be a wild donkey of a man. He'll be against everyone, and everyone will be against him. He will live in conflict with all of his relatives.|

13 So 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.|