THE WORD OF ELOHIM
GENESIS
Saray, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a Mitzrayim maidservant whose name was Hagar. And Saray said to Abram, "Look, Yehovah has kept me from bearing. Consort with my maid; perhaps I shall have a son through her." And Abram heeded Saray's request. So Saray, Abram's wife, took her maid, Hagar the Mitzrayim―after Abram had dwelt in the land of Kenaan ten years―and gave her to her husband Abram as a concubine. He cohabited with Hagar and she conceived and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was lowered in her esteem. And Saray said to Abram, "The wrong done me is your fault! I myself put my maid in your bosom; now that she sees that she is pregnant, I am lowered in her esteem. Yehovah decide between you and me!" Abram said to Saray, "Your maid is in your hands. Deal with her as you think right." Then Saray treated her harshly, and she ran away from her.
An angel of Yehovah found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur, and said "Hagar, slave of Saray, where have you come from, and where are you going?" And she said, "I am running away from my mistress Saray." And the angel of Yehovah said to her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her harsh treatment." And the angel of Yehovah said to her, "I will greatly increase your offspring, and they shall be too many to count." The angel of Yehovah said to her further, "Behold, you are with child and shall bear a son; you shall call him Yishmael, for Yehovah has paid heed to your suffering. He shall be a wild ass of a man; his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; he shall dwell alongside of all his kinsmen." And she called Yehovah who spoke to her, "you are El-
Abram was eighty six years old when Hagar bore Yishmael to Abram.
Chapter 16