June 30, 2009

Genesis 16

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave woman whose name was Hagar, and Sarah said to Abram, "You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go into my slave; it may be that I shall obtain children by her."

And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. He went into Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress.

Then Sarai said to Abram, "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!"

But Abram said to Sarai, "Your slave is in your power; do to her as you please!"

Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away.

The Angel of the Lord found [Hagar] by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?"

She said, "I am running away from my mistress Sarai."

The Angel of the Lord said to Sarai, "Return to your mistress and submit to her." The Angel of the Lord also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude." And the Angel of the Lord said to her,

"Now you have conceived and shall bear a son.
You shall call him Ishmael, [= "God hears"]
for the Lord has given heed to your affliction.
He shall be a wild ass of a man
with his hand against everyone
and everyone's hand against him
and he shall live at odds with all his kin."

So she named the Lord who spoke to her, "You are El-roi;" ["God of seeing"?] for she said, "Have I really seen God, and remained alive?" Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi ["that is: the Well of the Living One Who Sees Me"]; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

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