Genesis 16

1 Up to that time, Abram’s wife Sarai had not given birth to any children for Abram. But she had a female slave from Egypt, whose name was 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 [So one day] Sarai said to Abram, “Listen to me! Yahweh has not allowed me to become pregnant. So (sleep with/have sex with) [EUP] my slave Hagar. Perhaps she will bear children whom I can consider to be mine.” Abram agreed to do what Sarai said.

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 So Abram (slept with/had sex with) Hagar, his wife Sarai’s slave from Egypt. This happened ten years after they went to live in Canaan [land]. Sarai gave Hagar to her husband to be his secondary 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 He (slept with/had sex with) [EUP] Hagar and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress Sarai.

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

5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “It is your fault! I put my servant into your arms, so that you could sleep with her [EUP]. Now she realizes that she is pregnant, and she despises me. I think Yahweh will punish you for doing this to me!”

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 So Abram said to Sarai, “[You listen to me]! She is your servant, so act towards her in the way you consider best.” Then Sarai started to mistreat her, so she ran away from Sarai.

“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 An angel of Yahweh found her as she was near a spring of water in the desert. It was the spring that was alongside the road to Shur.

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

8 He said to her, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She replied, “I have run away from Sarai, my mistress.”

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 The angel said, “Go back to your mistress and be under her authority [MTY]”.

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

10 The angel also said to her, “I will enable you to bear so many descendants that no one will be able to count them!”

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

11 The angel also said to her, “[Listen to this!] You are pregnant. You will give birth to a son. You must name him Ishmael, [which means ‘God hears]’, because Yahweh has heard you crying because you feel so miserable.

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 But your son will be as uncontrollable as a wild donkey [MET]. He will oppose everyone, and everyone will oppose him [MTY]. He will live far away from his relatives [SYN].”

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 Then Hagar realized that the angel was really Yahweh, so she said to herself, “(It is difficult to believe that I have really seen the back of Yahweh, the one who sees me!/Have I really seen the back of Yahweh, the one who sees me?)” [RHQ] So she called him ‘Yahweh, the one who sees me’.

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 That is why people call the well there ‘Beer-Lahai-Roi’, [which means, ‘The well of the living one who sees us’!] It is still there, 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 So Hagar later gave birth to a son for Abram, and she gave to her son the name Ishmael.

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

16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son Ishmael.

Abram was 86 when Hagar had Ishmael.