So 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!”
Parallel translations
- WEB She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?”
- KJV And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
- NKJV Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?”
- NASB Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees me”; for she said, “Have I even seen Him here and lived after He saw me?”
- NLT Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Hagar named the Lord the God who sees, marveling that she had seen Him and lived. She testified to God's personal attention to her.
Overview
Hagar responds to God's care by naming Him El Roi, the God who sees, the only person in Scripture to give God a name. Her wonder at surviving an encounter with God reflects the awe of meeting the holy One. Her confession celebrates a God who sees the afflicted and overlooked, a comfort to all who feel unseen, and a foretaste of the God who draws near in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 139:1–12For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
- Gen 32:30So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
- Prov 15:3The eyes of the LORD are in every place, observing the evil and the good.
- Prov 5:21For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.
- Gen 16:7Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur.
- Gen 31:42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.”
- Gen 22:14And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
- Exod 34:5–7And the LORD descended in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed His name, the LORD.
- Gen 28:17And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven!”
- Exod 33:18–23Then Moses said, “Please show me Your glory.”
- Gen 16:9–10So the angel of the LORD told her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.”
- Judg 6:24So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 16:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.