Old Testament · Law

Genesis 16

Hagar

Sarai grows impatient with God's timing and takes matters into her own hands. The consequences ripple across centuries — but God sees the woman everyone else overlooks.

King James Version BSB KJV

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1Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

2And 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.

3And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

4And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

5And 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.

6But 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.

7And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

8And 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.

9And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

10And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

11And 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.

12And 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.

13And 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?

14Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

15And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.

16And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

Understand This

Genesis 16, explained

What Genesis 16 is saying

Sarai, unable to conceive, offers her servant Hagar to Abram as a surrogate, following accepted Mesopotamian custom. Hagar conceives and tensions escalate; Sarai afflicts Hagar, who flees into the wilderness. The angel of the Lord finds Hagar at a spring, commands her to return, and promises that her son Ishmael will become a great nation. Hagar names God El Roi, the God who sees.

The background behind it

The surrogate arrangement reflects legal norms found in the Code of Hammurabi and Nuzi tablets, where barren wives could provide slave women to produce heirs. The angel of the Lord's appearance to Hagar is the first theophany recorded to a woman and notably to a non-Israelite, Egyptian slave.

Themes running underneath

Human attempts to fulfill divine promises through cultural expedience create relational chaos. Yet God's care for the marginalized Hagar, a foreign slave woman, reveals that divine compassion extends beyond covenant boundaries. El Roi establishes that God sees and dignifies the invisible and exploited.

Why it still matters

Running ahead of God's timing, even with culturally acceptable methods, produces consequences that persist for generations. Yet Hagar's story assures the overlooked and mistreated that God sees them even when no one else does.

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Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.