Kejadian 16:5

16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You have brought this wrong on me! ¹  I allowed my servant to have sexual relations with you, ²  but when she realized ³  that she was pregnant, she despised me. ⁴  May the Lord judge between you and me!” ⁵ 

Kejadian 16:1

The Birth of Ishmael

16:1 Now Sarai, ⁶  Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, ⁷  but she had an Egyptian servant ⁸  named Hagar. ⁹ 

1 Samuel 25:38

25:38 After about ten days the Lord struck Nabal down and he died.

Roma 12:19

12:19 Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath, ¹⁰  for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” ¹¹  says the Lord.

[16:5]  ¹ tn Heb “my wrong is because of you.”

[16:5]  ² tn Heb “I placed my female servant in your bosom.”

[16:5]  ³ tn Heb “saw.”

[16:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “I was despised in her eyes.” The passive verb has been translated as active for stylistic reasons. Sarai was made to feel supplanted and worthless by Hagar the servant girl.

[16:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “me and you.”

[16:5]  sn May the Lord judge between you and me. Sarai blamed Abram for Hagar’s attitude, not the pregnancy. Here she expects to be vindicated by the Lord who will prove Abram responsible. A colloquial rendering might be, “God will get you for this.” It may mean that she thought Abram had encouraged the servant girl in her elevated status.

[16:1]  ⁶ tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of a new episode in the story.

[16:1]  ⁷ sn On the cultural background of the story of Sarai’s childlessness see J. Van Seters, “The Problem of Childlessness in Near Eastern Law and the Patriarchs of Israel,” JBL 87 (1968): 401-8.

[16:1]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term שִׁפְחָה (shifkhah, translated “servant” here and in vv. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8) refers to a menial female servant.

[16:1]  ⁹ sn The passage records the birth of Ishmael to Abram through an Egyptian woman. The story illustrates the limits of Abram’s faith as he tries to obtain a son through social custom. The barrenness of Sarai poses a challenge to Abram’s faith, just as the famine did in chap. 12. As in chap. 12, an Egyptian figures prominently. (Perhaps Hagar was obtained as a slave during Abram’s stay in Egypt.)

[12:19]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the wrath,” referring to God’s wrath as the remainder of the verse shows.

[12:19]  ¹¹ sn A quotation from Deut 32:35.