hagar

¹Now Sarai, the wife of Abram, had not conceived children. But, having an Egyptian handmaid named Hagar, ²she said to her husband: “Behold, the Lord has closed me, lest I give birth. Enter to my handmaid, so that perhaps I may receive sons of her at least.” And when he agreed to her supplication, ³she took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, ten years after they began to live in the land of Canaan, and she gave her to her husband as a wife. ⁴And he entered to her. But when she saw that she had conceived, she despised her mistress. ⁵And Sarai said to Abram: “You have acted unfairly against me. I gave my handmaid into your bosom, who, when she saw that she had conceived, held me in contempt. May the Lord judge between me and you.” ⁶Abram responded to her by saying, “Behold, your handmaid is in your hand to treat as it pleases you.” And so, when Sarai afflicted her, she took flight.

⁸And the boy grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day of his weaning. ⁹And when Sarah had seen the son of Hagar the Egyptian playing with her son Isaac, she said to Abraham: ¹⁰“Cast out this woman servant and her son. For the son of a woman servant will not be heir with my son Isaac.” ¹¹Abraham took this grievously, for the sake of his son. ¹²And God said to him: “Let it not seem harsh to you concerning the boy and your woman servant. In all that Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice. For your offspring will be invoked in Isaac. ¹³Yet I will also make the son of the woman servant into a great nation, for he is your offspring.”

¹²These are the generations of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to him.

²⁴These things are said through an allegory. For these represent the two testaments. Certainly the one, on Mount Sinai, gives birth unto servitude, which is Hagar. ²⁵For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia, which is related to the Jerusalem of the present time, and it serves with her sons.

²⁰Likewise, concerning Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless and enlarge him, and I will multiply him greatly. He will produce twelve leaders, and I will make him into a great nation.

¹⁷But God heard the voice of the boy. And an Angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, saying: “What are you doing, Hagar? Do not be afraid. For God has heeded the voice of the boy, from the place where he is. ¹⁸Rise up. Take the boy and hold him by the hand. For I will make of him a great nation.”

⁷And when the Angel of the Lord had found her, near the fountain of water in the wilderness, which is on the way to Shur in the desert, ⁸he said to her: “Hagar, handmaid of Sarai, where have you come from? And where will you go?” And she answered, “I flee from the face of Sarai, my mistress.” ⁹And the Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and humble yourself under her hand.” ¹⁰And again he said, “I will multiply your offspring continuously, and they will not be numbered because of their multitude.” ¹¹But thereafter he said: “Behold, you have conceived, and you will give birth to a son. And you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction. ¹²He will be a wild man. His hand will be against all, and all hands will be against him. And he will pitch his tents away from the region of all his brothers.”

¹⁸Now he had lived from Havilah as far as Shur, which overlooks Egypt as it approaches the Assyrians. He passed away in the sight of all his brothers.

⁹And when Sarah had seen the son of Hagar the Egyptian playing with her son Isaac, she said to Abraham: ¹⁰“Cast out this woman servant and her son. For the son of a woman servant will not be heir with my son Isaac.”

³she took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, ten years after they began to live in the land of Canaan, and she gave her to her husband as a wife.

¹³Then she called upon the name of the Lord who had spoken to her: “You are the God who has seen me.” For she said, “Certainly, here I have seen the back of the one who sees me.”

¹⁷But God heard the voice of the boy. And an Angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, saying: “What are you doing, Hagar? Do not be afraid. For God has heeded the voice of the boy, from the place where he is.