The Birth of Ishmael and the Testing of Faith

¹Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. ²So 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. ³So 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. ⁴And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. ⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me.” ⁶“Here,” said Abram, “your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her. ⁷Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur. ⁸“Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied. ⁹So the angel of the LORD told her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.” ¹⁰Then the angel added, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.” ¹¹The angel of the LORD proceeded: “Behold, you have conceived and will bear a son. And you shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction. ¹²He will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” ¹³So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!” ¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. It is located between Kadesh and Bered. ¹⁵And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. ¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him. ¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless. ²I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.” ³Then Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, ⁴“As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. ⁵No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you. ⁷I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.” ⁹God also said to Abraham, “You must keep My covenant—you and your descendants in the generations after you. ¹⁰This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, which you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcised. ¹¹You are to circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹²Generation after generation, every male must be circumcised when he is eight days old, including those born in your household and those purchased from a foreigner—even those who are not your offspring. ¹³Whether they are born in your household or purchased, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh will be an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴But if any male is not circumcised, he will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”