Genesis 16:1
Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.
2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
3 So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife.
Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.
- KJV
- Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
- WEB
- Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
- ASV
- Now Sarai, Abram`s wife, bare him no children: and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
- DARBY
- And Sarai Abram's wife did not bear him [children]. And she had an Egyptian maidservant; and her name was Hagar.
- BLB
- And Sarai the wife of Abram has not borne to him, and she had a maidservant, an Egyptianess, and her name [was] Hagar.
- ÅB
- Sarai, Abrams hustru, fødte ham ikke barn; men hun hadde en egyptisk slavekvinne, som hette Hagar.
- OTB
- Nå hadde Sarai, Abrams kone, ikke født ham noen barn, men hun hadde en egyptisk slave ved navn Hagar.
- B1930
- Sarai, Abrams hustru, fødte ham ikke barn; men hun hadde en egyptisk trælkvinne, som hette Hagar.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Galatians 4:24
These things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar.
Read in contextGenesis 12:16
He treated Abram well on her account, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.
Read in contextGenesis 15:2–3
But Abram replied, “O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
Read in contextGenesis 21:9–10
But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son,
Read in contextGenesis 21:12
But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to everything that Sarah tells you, for through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.
Read in contextLuke 1:36
Look, even Elizabeth your relative has conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is in her sixth month.
Read in contextGenesis 11:30
But Sarai was barren; she had no children.
Read in contextJudges 13:2
Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.
Read in context