And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
Parallel translations
- WEB Hagar bore a son for Abram. Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
- BSB And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.
- NKJV So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
- NASB So Hagar bore a son to Abram; and Abram named his son, to whom Hagar gave birth, Ishmael.
- NLT So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael.
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 bore Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. The promised birth came to pass as foretold.
Overview
Hagar returns and gives birth, and Abram names the child Ishmael, the name God had appointed. That Abram uses the divinely given name suggests Hagar told him of her encounter. Yet this son, though loved and blessed, is not the child of promise, and the narrative keeps the reader waiting for Isaac, the true heir of the covenant.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Gen 25:12Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bare unto Abraham:
- Gen 37:27Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.
- Gen 17:20And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
- Gen 17:18And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
- 1 Chr 1:28The sons of Abraham; Isaac, and Ishmael.
- Gen 17:25–26And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
- Gen 16:11And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
- Gen 28:9Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.
- Gen 21:9–21And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
- Gen 25:9And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;
- Gal 4:22–23For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 16:15 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.