Genesis 16
16
Ishmael Is Born
1Sarai, Abram’s wife, had no children, but she had a slave girl from Egypt named Hagar. 2Sarai said to Abram, “Look, the Lord has not allowed me to have children, so have sexual relations with my slave girl. If she has a child, maybe I can have my own family through her.”
Abram did what Sarai said. 3It was after he had lived ten years in Canaan that Sarai gave Hagar to her husband Abram. (Hagar was her slave girl from Egypt.)
4Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When Hagar learned she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress Sarai badly. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is your fault. I gave my slave girl to you, and when she became pregnant, she began to treat me badly. Let the Lord decide who is right—you or me.”
6But Abram said to Sarai, “You are Hagar’s mistress. Do anything you want to her.” Then Sarai was hard on Hagar, and Hagar ran away.
7The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the desert, by the road to Shur. 8The angel said, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave girl, where have you come from? Where are you going?”
Hagar answered, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”
9The angel of the Lord said to her, “Go home to your mistress and obey her.” 10The angel also said, “I will give you so many descendants they cannot be counted.”
11The angel added,
“You are now pregnant,
and you will have a son.
You will name him Ishmael,
because the Lord has heard your cries.
12Ishmael will be like a wild donkey.
He will be against everyone,
and everyone will be against him.
He will attack all his brothers.”
13The slave girl gave a name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are ‘God who sees me,’ ” because she said to herself, “Have I really seen God who sees me?” 14So the well there, between Kadesh and Bered, was called Beer Lahai Roi.
15Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram, and Abram named him Ishmael. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Genesis 16
16
Sarai and Hagar
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him any children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. 2So Sarai said to Abram, “See here, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. I am asking you to go in to [the bed of] my maid [so that she may bear you a child]; perhaps I will #This must have been an acceptable practice in that time and culture, based on the idea that the children of such a union would belong to the owner of the slave-girl. Abram undoubtedly had informed Sarai of God’s promise to him, and Sarai perhaps thought that this was necessary in order to bring about God’s plan for them.obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to Sarai and did as she said. 3After Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian [maid], and gave her to her husband Abram to be his [secondary] wife. 4He went in to [the bed of] Hagar, and she conceived; and when she realized that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress [regarding Sarai as insignificant because of her infertility]. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, “May [the responsibility for] the wrong done to me [by the arrogant behavior of Hagar] be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, and when she realized that she had conceived, I was despised and looked on with disrespect. May the Lord judge [who has done right] between you and me.” 6But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your maid is entirely in your hands and subject to your authority; do as you please with her.” So Sarai treated her harshly and humiliated her, and Hagar fled from her.
7But #This is the first occurrence of “Angel of the Lord (YHWH)” in Scripture. The Hebrew word for “angel” means “messenger” (an angel of God is a special messenger from God who speaks for and is closely identified with Him) and context determines whether the messenger is an angel or a human. The same is true for Greek, and the word “angel” is an English form (transliteration) of the Gr aggelos. The Angel of the Lord can be a special case, however. Many Bible scholars believe that this Angel may be a theophany, that is, a physical manifestation of God, in which case the word Angel is capitalized. The Angel of the Lord may, based on context, be the pre-incarnate Christ, the Son of God.the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, on the road to [Egypt by way of] Shur. 8And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where did you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” 9The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit #Lit under her hands.humbly to her authority.” 10Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” 11The Angel of the Lord continued,
“Behold, you are with child,
And you will bear a son;
And you shall name him Ishmael (God hears),
Because the Lord has heard and paid attention to your persecution (suffering).
12He (Ishmael) will be a wild donkey of a man;
His hand will be against every man [continually fighting]
And every man’s hand against him;
And he will dwell in defiance of all his brothers.”
13Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are #Heb El roi; God never sleeps, He sees, He is aware, He is the great Omnipresent God.God Who Sees”; for she said, “Have I not even here [in the wilderness] remained alive after #Or seen the back of Him who sees me, which would suggest that at some point in their conversation Hagar requested to see the divine Angel (see note v 7) and, as in Moses’ encounter with God (Ex 33:18-23), was granted the privilege of seeing His back. The wording of the Hebrew is not clear enough to further narrow the possibilities.seeing Him [who sees me with understanding and compassion]?” 14Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me); it is #This, “it is between Kadesh and Bered,” is further proof of the antiquity of the original names, since the place had to be identified to the reader in the time of Moses.between Kadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son; and Abram named his son, to whom Hagar gave birth, #Ishmael was the first person whom God named before his birth (Gen 16:11). Others were: Isaac (Gen 17:19); Josiah (1 Kin 13:2); Solomon (1 Chr 22:9); Jesus (Matt 1:21); and John the Baptist (Luke 1:13).Ishmael (God hears). 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.
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