1Sarai, Abram's wife, hadn't been able to have any children for him. However, she owned a female Egyptian slave named Hagar, 2so Sarai said to Abram, “Please listen to me. The Lord hasn't let me have any children. So please go and sleep with my slave. Maybe I can have a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai had suggested. 3So Sarai, Abram's wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband as his wife. Abram had been living in the land of Canaan for ten years when this happened.

4Abram slept with Hagar and she became pregnant. When she realized she was pregnant, she treated her mistress with contempt.#16:4. “She looked at her mistress with contempt,” literally, “her mistress looked small in her eyes.” Another translation would be “she looked down on her mistress.”

5Then Sarai complained to Abram, “What I'm suffering is all your doing! I gave you my servant to sleep with, and now that she knows she's pregnant, she treats me with contempt. May the Lord decide who's at fault—you or me!”

6“Listen, she's your slave!” Abram replied. “You can do whatever you want to her.” Sarai treated Hagar so badly that she ran away.#16:6. “Ran away”: the Hebrew says, “ran away from her,” but Hagar ran away from the camp rather than just avoid Sarai.

7The angel of the Lord met Hagar at a spring in the desert—the spring on the road to Shur.

8He asked her, “Hagar, Sarai's slave—where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.

9“Go back to your mistress and do what she tells you,” the angel of the Lord told her. 10Then he continued, “I will give you many, many descendants—in fact they'll be so many they can't be counted.” 11The angel of the Lord went on to tell her: “Listen! You're pregnant, and you will have a son. You are to name him Ishmael,#16:11. Ishmael means “God hears.” for the Lord has heard how you've suffered. 12He'll be a wild donkey kind of man—he will fight with everyone, and everyone will fight with him. He will forever be fighting with his relatives.”

13From then on Hagar called the Lord who spoke to her, “You are the God who sees me,” because she said, “Here I saw the one who sees me.” 14That's why the well#16:14. This well is the same water source that is called a spring in verse 7. is called “the Well of the Living One who Sees Me.” It's still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

15Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram. Abram named his son Ishmael. 16Abram was 86 when Hagar had Ishmael.

Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com

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Genesis 16

1Now Sarai (My Princess) Avram’s (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation) wife bore him no children: and she had an female servant, [from] Mitzrayim (People of the Black Land), whose name was Hagar (Flight).

2And Sarai (My Princess) said unto Avram (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation), Behold now, the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) has restrained me from bearing: I pray youi, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Avram (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation) listened to the voice of Sarai (My Princess).

3And Sarai (My Princess) Avram’s (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation) wife took Hagar (Flight) her maid the Mitzrayimi (People of the Black Land), after Avram (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation) had dwelt ten years in the land of Kena’an (merchant; trader; or that humbles and subdues), and gave her to her husband Avram (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation) to be his wife.

4And he went in unto Hagar (Flight), and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

5And Sarai (My Princess) said unto Avram (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation), My wrong [be] upon youi: I have given my maid into youri bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) judge between me and youi.

6But Avram (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation) said unto Sarai (My Princess), Behold, youri maid [is] in youri hand; do to her as it pleases youi. And when Sarai (My Princess) dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

7And the angel of the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur [wall] (wall).

8And he said, Hagar (Flight), Sarai’s (My Princess) maid, from what place came youi? and to where will youi go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai (My Princess).

9And the angel of the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) said unto her, Return to youri mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

10And the angel of the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) said unto her, I will multiply youri seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

11And the angel of the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) said unto her, Behold, youi [are] with child, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Yishma’el (He Will Hear God; God hears [EL]); because the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) has heard youri affliction.

12And he will be a wild man; his hand [will be] against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

13And she called the name of the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) that spoke unto her, Youi God-EL Ro’I [The Powerful Living Word Sees Me]: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that sees me?

14For what reason the well was called Be’er-Lachai-Ro’i (well of the living One seeing me); behold, [it is] between Kadesh (to be consecrated, consecrated, sanctified) and Bered (hail, grizzled).

15And Hagar (Flight) bore Avram (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation) a son: and Avram (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation) called his son’s name, which Hagar (Flight) bore, Yishma’el (He Will Hear God; God hears [EL]).

16And Avram (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation) [was] eighty and six years old, when Hagar (Flight) bore Yishma’el (He Will Hear God; God hears [EL]) to Avram (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation).

For more information about the NMV, details about why the names of God are notated and translated as they are, or to learn about the special markings and translations used in this text, click below.

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Genesis 16

Genesis 16