16:1 At that time Abram’s wife Sarai
had not had any children.
She kept an Egyptian housemaid
whose name was Hagar.
16:2 So Sarai said to Abram:
See how Yahweh has restrained me
from having children.
Please go to my housemaid
So I may have children by her.
And Abram heard Sarai.
16:3 Then Abram’s wife Sarai
took Hagar her Egyptian housemaid
and after Abram had lived in
for over twelve years
gave her to her husband Abram
to be his wife.
16:4 So he had sex with Hagar
and she conceived.
When she had conceived
she began to despise her mistress.
16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram:
My mistake has come to you.
I gave my maid to your embrace
and when she conceived
she began to despise me.
May Yahweh decide this matter for us.
16:6 Then Abram said to Sarai:
Indeed the housemaid is yours
do to her as you please.
Then Sarai dealt harshly with her
and she fled from her presence.
16:7 Then the Angel of Yahweh
found her by a water spring
within the wilderness
by the springs on the way to Shur.
16:8 So he told Sarai's housemaid Hagar:
Where have you come from
and where are you going?
She replied:
I am running from the presence
of my mistress Sarai.
16:9 The Angel of Yahweh said to her:
return to your mistress
and submit yourself to her.
16:10 The Angel of Yahweh added:
Your descendants will significantly increase
to be too numerous to count.
16:11 Then the Angel of Yahweh said:
Now you are with child
and will bear a son.
He will be called Ishmael
because Yahweh heard your suffering.
16:12 He will be a ferocious man.
He will challenge all men
and all men will challenge him.
And he will resist his kinsmen.
16:13 She then praised the Name of Yahweh
Saying You are the God Who sees
may I also see Him who sees me?
16:14 Thus the spring was named
‘Spring of the One Who Sees Me’
located between Kadesh and Bered.
16:16 Abram was eighty-six years old
when Hagar brought forth Ishmael to Abram.
