Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
- BSB Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.
- NKJV Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.
- NASB Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him a child, but she had an Egyptian slave woman whose name was Hagar.
- NLT Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar.
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
Sarai remained childless and had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. This sets up a flawed human attempt to fulfill God's promise.
Overview
The narrative reintroduces Sarai's barrenness, the very obstacle to the promised offspring, and introduces Hagar. The mention of Hagar's Egyptian origin recalls Abram's earlier sojourn in Egypt. The verse frames the impending decision to use Hagar as a human shortcut, contrasting impatient self-effort with the patient faith God desires.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Gal 4:24Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
- Gen 12:16And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.
- Gen 21:9–10And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
- Gen 15:2–3And Abram said, LORD God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
- Judg 13:2And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.
- Gen 21:12And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
- Gen 21:21And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
- Gen 25:21And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
- Luke 1:36And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
- Gen 11:30But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
- Luke 1:7And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.
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 16:1 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.