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1 Now Sarai the wife of Abraham had brought forth no children; and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

2 And Sarai said unto Abram, “Behold, the LORD has restrained me from bearing; go in, I pray you, unto my handmaid; maybe I shall at least obtain[a] children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

3 Thus ten years after they had dwelt in Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian her handmaid, and gave her to her husband as wife.

4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she began to look down upon her mistress [Sarai].

5 And Sarai said unto Abram, “I made a mistake; I gave my handmaid to you, and when she saw that she had conceived, she began to disrespect me. The LORD will judge between me and you.”

6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Yes, but she is your maid; you may do with her as you see fit.” So Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face.

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

8 And he said, “Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid, where did you come from, and where will you go? And she said, I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.”

9 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands.”

10 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, “I will so greatly increase thy seed, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.”

11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, “Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; and you shall call his name Ishmael[b], because the LORD has heard your affliction.

12 And he shall be a wild, like a donkey among men; his hand shall be against all men, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell over[c] against all his brethren.”

13 And she called the name of the LORD that spoke to her, “You are the God who sees me;” for she said, “Have I even looked for him that sees me?”

14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi[f]; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

15 And Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bare “Ishmael”.

16 And Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

[2a] Hebrew ‘be builded by her.’

[11] ‘with child and shall bear’ compare w. Isaiah 7:14

[11b] That is, ‘God hears’

[12] ‘a wild, a donkey’ he is called a wild, like a donkey and not ‘like a donkey, wild,’ indicating the fierceness or totality of his wild nature.

[12c] Or, to the east of

[13] Or, ‘You, God, sees me’. Hebrew ‘El roi, that is, God of seeing.’

[14f] lit. ‘The well of the living one who sees me.’

Selected commentary.

שפחה מצרית A HANDMAID, AN EGYPTIAN — She was a daughter of Pharaoh; when he saw the miracles which had been performed for Sarah’s take he said, “It is better for my daughter to be a handmaid in this man’s house than be mistress in another man’s house” (Genesis Rabbah 45:1).

h.אולי אבנה ממנה IT MAY BE THAT I SHALL BE BUILDED UP THROUGH HER — This statement of Sarah teaches that a person who has no children is not firmly established (literally, built up: his name and future are not perpetuated) but is unstable (lit, demolished) (Genesis Rabbah 45:2).

h.אבנה ממנה I SHALL BE BUILDED UP THROUGH HER— through the merit that I admit her as a rival into my house.

h.לקול שרי TO THE VOICE OF SARAI— to the Holy (prophetic) Spirit that was in her (Genesis Rabbah 45:2).

h.ותקח שרי AND (SARAI TOOK [HAGAR] — She took (won her over) by kindly speech saying, “Happy are you in that you will be privileged to consort with so holy a person as this” (Genesis Rabbah 45:3).

h.מקץ עשר שנים AFTER [ABRAM HAD DWELT] TEN YEARS — the period appointed for a woman who has lived with her husband for ten years without having borne children to him when he is bound to take another.

h.'לשבת אברם וגו [TEN YEARS] AFTER ABRAHAM HAD DWELT IN THE LAND OF CANAAN — As Abraham had been married to Sarah before he entered Canaan this statement virtually informs us that the period he dwelt outside the land was not to be included in the number of these ten years (Yevamot 64a), for the promise, “And I will make of thee a great nation” was made to him with the intention of being fulfilled only after he had come into the land of Israel.

h.ויבא אל הגר ותהר AND HE CAME UNTO HAGAR AND SHE CONCEIVED from the first union (Genesis Rabbah 45:4).

h.ותקל גברתה בעיניה HER MISTRESS WAS SLIGHTED IN HER EYES — She said, “As regards this woman Sarai, her conduct in private can certainly not be like that in public: she pretends to be a righteous woman, but she cannot really be righteous since all these years she has not been privileged to have children, whilst I have had that blessing from the first union” (Genesis Rabbah 45:4).

h.חמסי עליך MY WRONG BE UPON THEE — The wrong done to me (חמסי)— the punishment for it I call down on you (עליך). “When you prayed to the Holy One, blessed be He, (15:2) ‘what wilt Thou give me, seeing that I go childless’, you prayed only on behalf of yourself whereas you should have prayed on behalf of both of us — then would I have been borne in mind (by God) together with you” (i.e. when you had the gift of a child it would have been “my” child also — not that of a strange woman). Besides this, you deprive me (חומס) of your protecting words since you hear how I am despised and yet you keep silent (Genesis Rabbah 45:5).

h.'אנכי נתתי שפחתי וגו ביני וביניך I HAVE GIVEN MY HANDMAID etc… [MAY THE LORD JUDGE] BETWEEN ME AND THEE — Wherever this word “between thee” (masc.) occurs in Scripture it is written defective (i.e. without the second yod) whilst here it is written plene, therefore read it as וּבֵינָיִךְ (the fem form that corresponds to ביניך in our text — as though Sarah turned to Hagar saying “May God judge between me and thee”). Thus she cast the evil eye on Hagar so that she miscarried on this occasion. This explains what the angel said to Hagar, (16:11) הנך הרה “behold, thou wilt conceive”; but had she not already conceived and yet he announces to her that she would conceive? This therefore informs us that she miscarried in this, her first conception (cf. verse 11) (Genesis Rabbah 45:5).

h.ותענה שרי AND SARAI AFFLICTED HER — She compelled her to work hard (Genesis Rabbah 45:6).

h.אי מזה באת WHENCE CAMEST THOU? — He knew it, but he asked this in order to give her a starting-point so that he might converse with her. The expression אי מזה is to be explained thus: Where is (אי) that place of which thou canst say, “From this (מזה) have I come”.

h.'ויאמר לה מלאך ה' וגו AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD SAID UNTO HER etc. (see also Genesis 16:10 & Genesis 16:11). For each statement (in these three verses) a different angel was sent to her, and this explains why in reference to each statement the phrase is used, “and an angel said to her” (Genesis Rabbah 45:7).

h.הנך הרה BEHOLD THOU WILT BE WITH CHILD — when you return you will conceive, just as the same phrase הנך הרה (Judges 13:7) spoken of the wife of Manoah (where it certainly appears to be thou wilt conceive in the future).

h.וְיֹלַדְתְּ בן AND THOU SHALT BEAR A SON — The word appears to be grammatically a combination of the perfect tense וְיָלַדְתְּ and the participle וְיֹלֶדֶת but it is similar in sense to וְיֹלֶדֶת (the participle); so, also, (Jeremiah 22:23) “O thou that dwellest יֹשַׁבְתְּ) in Lebanon, and art nestled (מְקֻנַּנְתְּ) in the cedars.”

h.וקראת שמו AND THOU SHALT CALL — This is a command, just as one would say to a man (וְקָרָאתָ), as (Genesis [17]:19) “And thou shalt call his name Isaac”.

h.פרא אדם A WILD MAN — One who loves the open spaces to hunt wild animals, as it is written of him (Genesis 21:20) “And he dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer.”

h.ידו בכל HIS HAND SHALL BE AGAINST EVERY ONE — a highwayman.

h.ויד כל בו AND EVERYONE’S HAND AGAINST HIM — everyone will hate him and attack him.

h.ועל פני כל אחיו ישכון AND HE SHALL DWELL IN THE PRESENCE OF ALL HIS BRETHREN — his descendants will be numerous, (so that his territory must extend over that which his brethren have; cf. Genesis 25:18).

h.אתה אל ראי THOU ART A GOD OF SEEING — The word is punctuated with a Chataph Kametz because it is a noun, and the meaning is “a God of seeing” — One who sees the humiliation to which people are subjected by others (Genesis Rabbah 45:10)

h.הגם הלום HAVE I ALSO [SEEN] HERE — This is an exclamation of surprise: “could I have ever imagined that here also — in the wilderness — I would see the messengers of the Omnipresent after I have seen them in Abraham’s house, where I saw them regularly!” You may know that she used to see them there regularly from this: That Manoah saw the angel only once and exclaimed, (Judges 13:22) “We shall surely die”, and she saw angels four times, one after the other, and she showed no fear (Genesis Rabbah 45:7).

h.באר לחי ראי As the Targum takes it: the well at which the living angel had appeared to her.

h.'ויקרא אברם שם וגו AND ABRAM CALLED THE NAME [OF HIS SON] etc. — Although Abram had not heard the words of the angel when he said to Hagar “and thou shalt call his name Ishmael”, yet the Holy Spirit rested upon him and he called him Ishmael.

h.'ואברם בן שמנים שנה וגו AND ABRAM WAS FOURSCORE AND SIX YEARS OLD etc. — This is written to Ishmael’s credit, pointing out that he was thirteen years old when he was circumcised (see Genesis [17]:25) and yet he raised no objection.