Genesis 16 :: New International Version (NIV)

Hagar and Ishmael

Gen 16:1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar;

Gen 16:2so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.

Gen 16:3

Gen 16:3So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.

Gen 16:4

Gen 16:4He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

Gen 16:5

Gen 16:5Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

Gen 16:6

Gen 16:6“Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

Gen 16:7

Gen 16:7The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.

Gen 16:8

Gen 16:8And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

Gen 16:9

Gen 16:9Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”

Gen 16:10

Gen 16:10The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

Gen 16:11

Gen 16:11The angel of the LORD also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,[fn] for the LORD has heard of your misery.

Gen 16:12

Gen 16:12He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward[fn] all his brothers.”

Gen 16:13

Gen 16:13She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[fn] the One who sees me.”

Gen 16:14

Gen 16:14That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[fn]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

Gen 16:15

Gen 16:15So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.

Gen 16:16

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