Genesis Chapter 16
Showing all 16 verses for Genesis Chapter 16.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. "
"Sarai, Abram's wife, had not given birth to any children. She had an Egyptian servant named Hagar."
Sarai's childlessness is stated plainly alongside the introduction of Hagar, setting up a very human attempt to solve a divine promise. When you're waiting on something God has promised, notice the moment you start looking for a way to make it happen yourself instead of trusting His timing.
"And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. "
"Sarai said to Abram, "Look, the LORD has kept me from having children. Please go and sleep with my servant - maybe I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said."
Sarai's plan is understandable, born from pain and impatience rather than malice. Be gentle with yourself and others when impatience leads to a flawed plan; the desire behind it can be completely understandable even when the plan itself isn't wise.
"And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"So Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian servant - this was after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years - and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife."
Ten years of waiting had passed before this decision was made; it wasn't rash impatience alone, but also sheer exhaustion. Long unanswered waiting can wear down even reasonable people into unwise decisions; be compassionate towards yourself and others in the weariness of a long wait.
"And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. "
"Abram slept with Hagar and she became pregnant. Once Hagar realised she was pregnant, she began to look down on Sarai."
Tension follows almost immediately once the plan is carried out. Solutions we engineer ourselves, outside of God's actual timing, often bring new problems rather than the peace we hoped for. Notice when a shortcut has created more conflict than it resolved.
"And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. "
"Sarai said to Abram, "This wrong done to me is your fault! I gave my servant to you, and now that she's pregnant, she looks down on me. Let the LORD judge between you and me.""
Sarai blames Abram for a situation she herself proposed. In conflict you helped create, be honest about your own part in it rather than shifting all the blame elsewhere; ownership, even shared ownership, is part of resolving it well.
"But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. "
"Abram replied, "Look, she's your servant - she's under your authority. Do whatever you think is right." So Sarai treated Hagar harshly, and Hagar ran away from her."
Abram steps back from responsibility, and Hagar suffers harshly as a result. When you have influence over how someone vulnerable is treated, don't withdraw into passivity; use your influence actively to protect them, not just to avoid conflict yourself.
"And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. "
"The angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the wilderness, on the road to Shur."
God's messenger finds Hagar alone in the wilderness, exactly where she's fled to. However far you feel you've run from anyone who cares, trust that God is still able to find you exactly where you are, even in the most isolated places.
"And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. "
"He said, "Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?" She answered, "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai.""
The angel asks Hagar where she's come from and where she's going, inviting her to name her situation honestly. When God draws near to you in a hard moment, let yourself answer honestly rather than performing composure you don't feel; He already knows, and He's asking so you can be known.
"And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. "
"The angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress, and submit to her.""
The instruction to return isn't easy, but it comes alongside real promises that make it bearable. Sometimes God calls you back into a hard situation rather than out of it, but never without also equipping you with new strength and reassurance for the return.
"And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. "
"The angel continued, "I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.""
God gives Hagar, a servant with no status or promise of her own, an enormous promise of descendants. God's care and promises reach people the world considers unimportant just as generously as those it considers significant. Let your own view of who matters be shaped by this.
"And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. "
""You are pregnant and will give birth to a son. Name him Ishmael, meaning 'God hears', because the LORD has heard about your suffering.""
Hagar's son is named for the fact that 'the LORD hath heard' her affliction. Whatever suffering you carry that feels unheard by everyone else, trust that God hears it fully, even when no human voice has yet acknowledged it.
"And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. "
""He will be free and untamed, like a wild donkey of a man - his hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in defiance, alongside all his relatives.""
Ishmael's future is described honestly, including real conflict, but also real belonging among his family. Even a difficult future isn't a hopeless one; God can hold both real struggle and real belonging together in a single life, including possibly your own.
"And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? "
"Hagar named the LORD who had spoken to her "El Roi" - "the God who sees me" - saying, "Have I really seen the One who sees me, and lived to tell it?""
Hagar names God Himself, 'Thou God seest me,' the only person in Genesis to do so. Let this become true for you too: whatever pain feels invisible to everyone else, it is not invisible to God. Being truly seen by Him is enough to build a life on.
"Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. "
"That's why the well is called Beer Lahai Roi, meaning "well of the Living One who sees me" - it's located between Kadesh and Bered."
The well itself gets renamed permanently after this encounter, a lasting marker of what God did there. Consider marking your own significant encounters with God, in memory, in habit, or in retelling, so that what happened there isn't forgotten by you or by those who come after you.
"And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. "
"Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram, and Abram named him Ishmael."
Hagar returns and gives birth, exactly as God had promised. Trust that when you obey a hard instruction from God, even one that seems to lead back into difficulty, His promised outcome still follows through faithfully on the other side.
"And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram. "
"Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael."
Abram is eighty-six, still years away from the fulfilment of God's original promise through Sarah. Long waits inside an already-long wait are still part of the story God is writing; don't assume a partial or complicated fulfilment means the fuller promise has failed.