Genesis 16 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Sarai and Hagar

Gen 16:1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.

Gen 16:2And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children[fn] by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

Gen 16:3

Gen 16:3So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.

Gen 16:4

Gen 16:4And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress.[fn]

Gen 16:5

Gen 16:5And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!”

Gen 16:6

Gen 16:6But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

Gen 16:7

Gen 16:7The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.

Gen 16:8

Gen 16:8And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.”

Gen 16:9

Gen 16:9The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.”

Gen 16:10

Gen 16:10The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”

Gen 16:11

Gen 16:11And the angel of the LORD said to her,
“Behold, you are pregnant
and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,[fn]
because the LORD has listened to your affliction.

Gen 16:12

Gen 16:12He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
his hand against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”

Gen 16:13

Gen 16:13So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,”[fn] for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”[fn]

Gen 16:14

Gen 16:14Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi;[fn] it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

Gen 16:15

Gen 16:15And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

Gen 16:16

Gen 16:16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(16:2)

Hebrew be built up, which sounds like the Hebrew for children

(16:4)

Hebrew her mistress was dishonorable in her eyes; similarly in verse 5

(16:11)

Ishmael means God hears

(16:13)

Or You are a God who sees me

(16:13)

Hebrew Have I really seen him here who sees me? or Would I have looked here for the one who sees me?

(16:14)

Beer-lahai-roi means the well of the Living One who sees me

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For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.