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.