1 Sarai, la mujer de Abram, no le había dado hijos. Ella tenía una sierva egipcia llamada Agar. 2 Sarai dijo a Abram: «Mira, el Señor no me ha permitido tener hijos. Únete a mi sierva; quizá pueda formar una familia por medio de ella». Abram hizo lo que Sarai le dijo. 3 Después de que Abram había vivido diez años en la tierra de Canaán, Sarai tomó a Agar, su sierva egipcia, y se la dio a Abram como mujer. 4 Abram se unió a Agar, y ella quedó embarazada. Cuando vio que estaba embarazada, dejó de respetar a Sarai. 5 Entonces Sarai dijo a Abram: «La culpa de esto sea sobre ti. Yo puse a mi sierva en tus brazos, pero cuando vio que estaba embarazada dejó de respetarme. Que el Señor juzgue entre tú y yo». 6 Abram respondió: «Tu sierva está en tus manos. Haz con ella lo que te parezca mejor». Entonces Sarai la trató con dureza, y Agar huyó de ella. 7 Un ángel del Señor encontró a Agar junto a una fuente de agua en el desierto, en el camino a Sur. 8 Le dijo: «Agar, sierva de Sarai, ¿de dónde vienes y adónde vas?». Ella respondió: «Estoy huyendo de Sarai, mi señora». 9 El ángel le dijo: «Regresa con tu señora y ponte bajo su autoridad». 10 El ángel del Señor añadió: «Haré tan numerosa tu descendencia que no se podrá contar». 11 El ángel del Señor también le dijo: «Estás embarazada y tendrás un hijo. Lo llamarás Ismael, porque el Señor ha escuchado tu aflicción. 12 Será como un asno salvaje entre los hombres. Estará contra todos, y todos estarán contra él; y vivirá frente a todos sus hermanos». 13 Agar dio este nombre al Señor que hablaba con ella: «Tú eres un Dios que se deja ver», porque dijo: «¿De verdad he visto aquí al que me ve y sigo viva?». 14 Por eso aquella fuente fue llamada Beer-lahai-roi. Está entre Cades y Bered. 15 Agar dio a luz un hijo de Abram, y Abram lo llamó Ismael. 16 Abram tenía ochenta y seis años cuando Agar dio a luz a Ismael.
Genesis · Bible in Simple Spanish (2026)
Genesis 16 Bible in Simple Spanish (2026)
Audio: Reina-Valera Antigua (RVA), read by Joyfull · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Abraham
Called by God, he left home in faith to become the father of a chosen people.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 12–25
Hagar
Sarah's Egyptian servant who bore Ishmael and met God in the wilderness.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 16, 21
Ishmael
Abraham's son by Hagar, blessed by God to become a great nation.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 16; 17:20; 21; 25:12–18
Cross references (15)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Galatians 4:24; Genesis 12:16; Genesis 15:2–3; Genesis 21:9–10; Genesis 21:12
- 2 Genesis 18:10; Genesis 3:17; Exodus 21:4; Genesis 25:21; Genesis 20:18
- 3 Genesis 16:5; Genesis 12:4–5; 2 Samuel 5:13; Genesis 25:6; Genesis 30:9
- 4 2 Samuel 6:16; Proverbs 30:23; 1 Samuel 1:6–8; 1 Corinthians 13:4–5; Proverbs 30:20–21
- 5 Genesis 31:53; Exodus 5:21; Luke 10:40–41; Psalm 7:8; 1 Samuel 24:12–15
- 6 Jeremiah 38:5; Job 2:6; Proverbs 14:29; Psalm 106:41–42; 1 Peter 3:7
- 7 Exodus 15:22; Genesis 25:18; Genesis 21:17; Proverbs 15:3; Genesis 31:11
- 8 Genesis 3:9; Genesis 4:10; Ecclesiastes 10:4; Jeremiah 2:17–18; Ephesians 6:5–8
- 9 1 Peter 5:5–6; Ecclesiastes 10:4; Ephesians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:18–25; Ephesians 6:5–6
- 10 Genesis 17:20; Psalm 83:6–7; Genesis 21:18; Genesis 21:13; Genesis 25:12–18
- 11 Exodus 2:23–24; Exodus 3:7; Isaiah 7:14; Genesis 17:19; Genesis 41:51–52
- 12 Genesis 25:18; Genesis 21:20; Job 39:5–8; Genesis 27:40; Job 11:12
- 13 Psalm 139:1–12; Genesis 32:30; Proverbs 15:3; Proverbs 5:21; Genesis 16:7
- 14 Genesis 25:11; Genesis 24:62; Numbers 13:26; Genesis 21:31; Genesis 14:7
- 15 Genesis 25:12; Genesis 28:9; Genesis 17:18; 1 Chronicles 1:28; Genesis 17:25–26
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… Sarah his wife, and had gratified her will and not his own,--had received her without seeking, had gone in to her without being attached, had impregnated without loving her,--for he says, "Behold thy maid is in thy hands: do to her as it pleaseth thee;" a man able to use women as a man should,--his wife temperately, his handmaid compliantly, …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
"And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abraham had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife." And of Keturah, whom he took after Sarah's departure, we read, "Then again Abraham took a wife, whose name was Keturah." Lo!
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… neck: for when, after being humiliated, she departed from her mistress, an angel met her, and said to her, "What is the matter with thee, Hagar, Sarah's handmaid?" When she complained of her mistress, what did she hear from the angel? "Return to thy mistress." It is for this that she is afflicted, that she may return; and would that …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)