Genesis 16

1 Sarai, Abram's wife, hadn't been able to have any children for him. However, she owned a female Egyptian slave named Hagar,

Now Sarai [Mockery], Avram [Exalted father]’s wife, bore him no children. She had a servant, an Egyptian [person from Abode of slavery], whose name was Hagar [Flight].

2 so 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.

Sarai [Mockery] said to Avram [Exalted father], “See now, Adonai has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my servant. It may be that I will obtain children by her.” Avram [Exalted father] sh'ma ·hear obey· the voice of Sarai [Mockery].

3 So 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.

Sarai [Mockery], Avram [Exalted father]’s wife, took Hagar [Flight] the Egyptian [person from Abode of slavery], her servant, after Avram [Exalted father] had lived ten years in the land of Canaan [Humbled], and gave her to Avram [Exalted father] her husband to be his wife.

4 Abram slept with Hagar and she became pregnant. When she realized she was pregnant, she treated her mistress with contempt.

He went in to Hagar [Flight], and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

5 Then 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!”

Sarai [Mockery] said to Avram [Exalted father], “This wrong is your fault. I gave my servant into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. Adonai judge between me and you.”

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.

But Avram [Exalted father] said to Sarai [Mockery], “Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes.” Sarai [Mockery] dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face.

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

Ha mal'ak Yahweh [The Angel of He sustains breathing] found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur.

8 He 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.

He said, “Hagar [Flight], Sarai [Mockery]’s servant, where did you come from? Where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai [Mockery].”

9 “Go back to your mistress and do what she tells you,” the angel of the Lord told her.

Ha mal'ak Yahweh [The Angel of He sustains breathing] said to her, “Teshuvah ·Completely return· to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands.”

10 Then he continued, “I will give you many, many descendants—in fact they'll be so many they can't be counted.”

Ha mal'ak Yahweh [The Angel of He sustains breathing] said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, that they will not be counted for multitude.”

11 The 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, for the Lord has heard how you've suffered.

Ha mal'ak Yahweh [The Angel of He sustains breathing] said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael [Pays attention God], because Adonai has sh'ma ·heard obeyed· your affliction.

12 He'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.”

He will be like a wild donkey among men. His hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. He will live opposite all of his brothers.”

13 From 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.”

She called the name of Adonai who spoke to her, “You are El Ro'i Ra'ah [God who sees me / God who provides],” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?”

14 That's why the well is called “the Well of the Living One who Sees Me.” It's still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi [Well of the one who lives and sees]. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

15 Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram. Abram named his son Ishmael.

Hagar [Flight] bore a son for Avram [Exalted father]. Avram [Exalted father] called the name of his son, whom Hagar [Flight] bore, Ishmael [Pays attention God].

16 Abram was 86 when Hagar had Ishmael.

Avram [Exalted father] was eighty-six years old when Hagar [Flight] bore Ishmael [Pays attention God] to Avram [Exalted father].