Genesis 16:1

Now Sarai, the wife of Abram, had not conceived children. But, having an Egyptian handmaid named Hagar,

Catholic Public Domain Version

In The King James Version

Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

In Context

2she said to her husband: “Behold, the Lord has closed me, lest I give birth. Enter to my handmaid, so that perhaps I may receive sons of her at least.” And when he agreed to her supplication,

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Cross References

Genesis 11:30But Sarai was barren and had no children.

Genesis 15:2And Abram said: “Lord God, what will you give to me? I may go without children. And the son of the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus.”

Genesis 21:12And God said to him: “Let it not seem harsh to you concerning the boy and your woman servant. In all that Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice. For your offspring will be invoked in Isaac.

Genesis 25:21And Isaac beseeched the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And he heard him, and he gave conception to Rebekah.

Luke 1:7And they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they both had become advanced in years.

Galatians 4:24These things are said through an allegory. For these represent the two testaments. Certainly the one, on Mount Sinai, gives birth unto servitude, which is Hagar.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 16:1

Hagar is the person mostly concerned in the story of this chapter, an obscure Egyptian woman, whose name and story we never should have heard of if Providence had not brought her into the family of Abram. Probably she was one of those maid-servants whom the king of Egypt, among other gifts, bestowed upon Abram, ch. xiv. 16 . Concerning her, we have four things in this chapter:—I. Her marriage to Abram her master, ver. 1-3 . II. Her misbehaviour towards Sarai her mistress, ver. 4-6 . III. Her discourse with an… Read the whole commentary →

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