Genesis 16:3

Translations

Modern

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.

Traditional

And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

Literal

And Sarai, wife of Abram, took Hagar the Egyptianess, her maidservant, after ten years of Abram dwelling in the land of Canaan, and she gave her to Abram, her husband, for a wife.

Latin

…tulit Agar ægyptiam ancillam suam post annos decem quam habitare cœperant in terra Chanaan: et dedit eam viro suo uxorem.

Original

Hebrew

English

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.

Notes

Genesis 16:1–3

Abram and Sarai dealt with the stress of Sarai not being able to have children and being too old to give birth.

According to the custom in that culture, a woman unable to have children could give her servant as a secondary wife to her husband. The child from this union became the primary wife's child. They adopted the child as the heir.

Sarai's suggestion was acceptable according to the culture's custom. But it was a human plan that showed a lack of faith in God. God’s promises would be fulfilled by faith.

Genesis 16:1–16

While they waited for their promised son to be born, Abram and Sarai tried another plan. This plan did not show trust in God.

Theme notes and profiles

Abraham Hagar Isaac Ishmael Infertility Symbolic Numbers

Related verses

Genesis 16:5
Then 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.”
Genesis 12:4–5
So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
2 Samuel 5:13
After he had arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.
Judges 19:1–4
Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
Genesis 30:9
When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.
Genesis 28:9
Esau went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, in addition to the wives he already had.
Genesis 35:22
While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:
Genesis 30:4
So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and he slept with her,
Genesis 32:22
During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
1 Kings 11:3
He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.
Galatians 4:25
Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.
Genesis 25:6
But while he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.

People

Abraham: Patriarch, chosen by God to father His people Hagar: Sarah's Egyptian maidservant; mother of Ishmael Sarah: Wife of Abraham; mother of Isaac

Places

Canaan: Ancient region; descendants of Ham; promised to Abraham's descendants Egypt: Ancient nation; Israelites enslaved there; plagues and Exodus

Glossary

Adultery Bible, Manuscripts and Text of the (New Testament) Circumcision Concubinage, Concubines Divorce Ebla Tablets Genesis, Book of Hagar Maid, Maiden Nations Nuzi, Nuzi Tablets Patriarchs, Period of the Sarah Slave, Slavery

Topics

Abraham: Ishmael Born To Bastard: Ishmael Concubinage: Laws Concerning: Abraham Sarah: Also Called Sarai is Sterile; Gives Her Handmaiden, Hagar, to Abraham As a Concubine

Genesis 16:3

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