Genesis

Chapter 16

The God Who Sees

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Sarai and Hagar occupy the same household space at different depths. Hagar works at an ordinary task while Sarai sits in thought.

Sarai speaks to Abram in the tent. Hagar is not posed as an object being offered in the foreground.

Sarai stands between Abram and Hagar in a restrained domestic composition, the distance between them visibly uneasy.

A later moment shows Hagar visibly pregnant, her gaze turned toward Sarai; both remain fully clothed and physically apart.

Sarai confronts Abram, grief and accusation visible in her face, Hagar outside the immediate argument.

Abram answers Sarai; the scene’s depth leads toward Hagar leaving the camp with a small bundle.

Hagar walks alone across dry ground, one hand steadying her bundle and the other resting against her side.

Hagar pauses beside a spring on the way to Shur. A calm human-like messenger stands at respectful distance.

At eye level, the messenger addresses Hagar by name; she answers directly, her shoulders tired but her face clear.

Hagar listens in stillness beside the spring as the messenger speaks.

The spring and surrounding wilderness widen around Hagar while the messenger’s promise continues.

Close on Hagar receiving the announcement, one hand over her clothed abdomen, water reflecting light beside her.

Hagar looks toward the open wilderness, wind lifting the edge of her head covering.

Hagar turns toward the light beside the spring, her expression gathering wonder and recognition.

A quiet wide view rests on the well in its dry landscape after the exchange.

Back in the household, Hagar holds newborn Ishmael safely against her, with Abram beside them.

Abram, recognizably older at eighty-six, looks at Ishmael while Hagar remains clearly present in the foreground.

The final silent image returns to the spring catching the sky, a visual echo of being seen.

Reading and visual interpretation notes

The Scripture captions and full chapter text use the public-domain World English Bible. The illustrations are an artistic interpretation.

Illustrations, speaker labels, scene descriptions and reading notes are artistic and editorial interpretations, not additional Scripture or precise historical reconstructions.

Reading note: The narrative reports a household with slavery and harsh treatment. Its command to Hagar is not presented here as general advice that a person experiencing abuse must remain in danger. Hagar’s unheard response and exact mistreatment are not invented.

Verse 14: Beer Lahai Roi means “well of the one who lives and sees me”.

Rectangular boxes are narration. Tailed speech bubbles identify human speakers. Gold speech is labeled GOD, whose form is not pictured. Dotted thought bubbles identify inward speech recorded in the text.

Read the original Scripture source

Read Genesis 16 · World English Bible

World English Bible (WEB) · Public domain. Verse numbers are included for reference.

¹ Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

² Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my servant. It may be that I will obtain children by her.” Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³ Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife.

⁴ He went in to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

⁵ Sarai said to Abram, “This wrong is your fault. I gave my servant into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, she despised me. May the LORD judge between me and you.”

⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes.” Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face.

⁷ The LORD’s angel found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur.

⁸ He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where did you come from? Where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.”

⁹ The LORD’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands.”

¹⁰ The LORD’s angel said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, that they will not be counted for multitude.”

¹¹ The LORD’s angel said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your affliction.

¹² He will be like a wild donkey among men. His hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. He will live opposed to all of his brothers.”

¹³ She called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?”

¹⁴ Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ Hagar bore a son for Abram. Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

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