¹ Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.

² So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³ So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife.

⁴ And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.¹

1. Or her mistress became despised in her sight

⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

⁶ “Here,” said Abram, “your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her.

⁷ Now the angel¹ of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur.

1. Or Angel; also in verses 9, 10, and 11; corresponding pronouns may also be capitalized.

⁸ “Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.

⁹ So the angel of the LORD told her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.”

¹⁰ Then the angel added, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.”

¹¹ The angel of the LORD proceeded: “Behold, you have conceived and will bear a son. And you shall name him Ishmael,¹ for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction.

1. Ishmael means God hears.

¹² He will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”

¹³ So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,¹” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!”

1. Hebrew El-Roi

¹⁴ Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi.¹ It is located between Kadesh and Bered.

1. Beer-lahai-roi means well of the Living One who sees me.

¹⁵ And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.

¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.