Genesis 16

1 And Sarai, Abram’s wife, has not borne to him, and she has a handmaid, an Egyptian, and her name [is] Hagar;

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

2 and Sarai says to Abram, “Now behold, YHWH has restrained me from bearing, please go in to my handmaid; perhaps I am built up from her”; and Abram listens to the voice of Sarai.

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.

3 And Sarai, Abram’s wife, takes Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, at the end of the tenth year of Abram’s dwelling in the land of Canaan, and gives her to her husband Abram—to him for a wife,

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.

4 and he goes in to Hagar, and she conceives, and she sees that she has conceived, and her mistress is lightly esteemed in her eyes.

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

5 And Sarai says to Abram, “My violence [is] for you; I have given my handmaid into your bosom, and she sees that she has conceived, and I am lightly esteemed in her eyes; YHWH judges between me and you.”

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!”

6 And Abram says to Sarai, “Behold, your handmaid [is] in your hand, do to her that which is good in your eyes”; and Sarai afflicted her, and she flees from her presence.

“Listen, she's your slave!” Abram replied. “You can do whatever you want to her.” Sarai treated Hagar so badly that she ran away.

7 And the Messenger of YHWH finds her by the fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way [to] Shur,

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

8 and He says, “Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid, from where have you come, and to where do you go?” And she says, “From the presence of Sarai, my mistress, I am fleeing.”

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.

9 And the Messenger of YHWH says to her, “Return to your mistress, and humble yourself under her hands”;

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

10 and the Messenger of YHWH says to her, “Multiplying I multiply your seed, and it is not numbered from multitude”;

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

11 and the Messenger of YHWH says to her, “Behold you [are] conceiving, and bearing a son, and have called his name Ishmael, for YHWH has listened to your affliction;

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.

12 and he is a wild-donkey man, his hand against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him—and before the face of all his brothers he dwells.”

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.”

13 And she calls the Name of YHWH who is speaking to her, “You [are], O God, my beholder”; for she said, “Even here have I looked behind my beholder?”

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.”

14 Therefore has one called the well, “The well of the Living One, my beholder”; behold, between Kadesh and Bered.

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

15 And Hagar bears a son to Abram; and Abram calls the name of his son, whom Hagar has borne, Ishmael;

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

16 and Abram [is] a son of eighty-six years in Hagar’s bearing Ishmael to Abram.

Abram was 86 when Hagar had Ishmael.