Genesis 16

¹Sarai therefore the wife of Abram had brought forth no children; but having an handmaid, an Ægyptian named Agar,

²she said to her husband: Behold, our Lord hath closed me, that I might not bear; Go in unto my handmaid, if happily of her at the least I may have children. And when he agreed to her in this request,

³she took Agar the Ægyptian her handmaid ten years after that they first dwelled in the land of Chanaan, and gave her unto her husband to wife.

⁴Who did company with her, but she perceiving that she was with child, despised her mistress.

⁵And Sarai said to Abram: Thou doest unjustly against me: I gave my handmaid into thy bosom, who perceiving herself to be with child, despiseth me. Our Lord judge between me and thee.

⁶To whom Abram making answer: Behold, saith he, thy handmaid is in thine own hand, use her as it pleaseth thee. When Sarai therefore did afflict her, she ran away.

⁷And an Angel of our Lord having found her beside a fountain of water in the wilderness, which is in the way to Sur in the desert,

⁸he said to her: Agar, the handmaid of Sarai, whence comest thou? And whither goest thou? Who answered: From the face of Sarai my mistress do I fly.

⁹And the Angel of our Lord said to her: Return to thy mistress, and humble thyself under her hand.

¹⁰And again: Multiplying, saith he, will I multiply thy seed, and it shall not be numbered for the multitude thereof.

¹¹And again after that: Behold, saith he, thou art with child, and thou shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Ismael, because the Lord hath heard thine affliction.

¹²He shall be a wild man: his hand shall be against all men, and all men's hands against him; and over against all his brethren shall he pitch his tents.

¹³And she called the name of our Lord that spake unto her: Thou the God which hast seen me. For she said: verily here have I seen the back parts of him that hast seen me.

¹⁴Therefore she called that well, the well of him that liveth and seeth me. The same is between Cadesse and Barad.

¹⁵And Agar brought forth a son to Abram: Who called his name Ismael.

¹⁶Eighty and six years old was Abram when Agar brought him forth Ismael.