Genesis 16:8

He said, “Hagar, you belong to Sarai, so why are you sitting out here in the desert? Where are you going?” Hagar said, “I’m running away from my boss Sarai. She is too hard on me.”

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.

In Context

7Hagar started walking through the desert, along the road that went to a town called Shur, near Egypt. She sat down next to a water-hole there in the desert. God’s angel messenger went to her there.

9God’s angel messenger said to her, “Don’t do that. Go back to your boss, and do what she says.”

Read all of Genesis 16

Cross References

Genesis 4:10God said to Cain, “You did a really bad thing. Your brother’s blood is on the ground. It’s like his blood is calling out to me. It is telling me you killed him.

Genesis 16:4He slept with Hagar like she was his wife. Then Hagar found out that she was going to have a baby, so she started rubbishing Sarai all the time, because Sarai didn’t have any kids.

Ephesians 6:5Now I’m talking to you workers, you people that have to work for other people all the time. Your bosses are only people, but that doesn’t matter, you have to respect them properly, and do whatever they tell you. Work hard for them, like you are working for Jesus Christ.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 16:8-10

7 And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. 8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. 9 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. Here is the first mention we have in scripture of an angel's appearance. Hagar was a type of the law, which was given by the disposition of angels; but the world… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 16:8