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He had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant. As soon as Hagar knew she was pregnant, her mistress lost stature in her eyes.[a](A) (B)So Sarai said to Abram: “This outrage against me is your fault. I myself gave my maid to your embrace; but ever since she knew she was pregnant, I have lost stature in her eyes. May the Lord decide between you and me!”

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Footnotes

  1. 16:4 Because barrenness was at that time normally blamed on the woman and regarded as a disgrace, it is not surprising that Hagar looks down on Sarah. Ancient Near Eastern legal practice addresses such cases of insolent slaves and allows disciplining of them. Prv 30:23 uses as an example of intolerable behavior “a maidservant when she ousts her mistress.”

He slept with Hagar,(A) and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.(B) Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”(C)

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31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he made her fruitful, while Rachel was barren.

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Jacob’s Children

31 When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved,(A) he enabled her to conceive,(B) but Rachel remained childless.

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There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites,[a] whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and had borne no children.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 13:2 The clan of the Danites: before the migration described in chap. 18 the tribe of Dan occupied a small territory west of Benjamin, adjacent to the Philistine plain; see note on 3:3.

A certain man of Zorah,(A) named Manoah,(B) from the clan of the Danites,(C) had a wife who was childless,(D) unable to give birth.

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But they had no child,[a] because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 1:7 They had no child: though childlessness was looked upon in contemporaneous Judaism as a curse or punishment for sin, it is intended here to present Elizabeth in a situation similar to that of some of the great mothers of important Old Testament figures: Sarah (Gn 15:3; 16:1); Rebekah (Gn 25:21); Rachel (Gn 29:31; 30:1); the mother of Samson and wife of Manoah (Jgs 13:2–3); Hannah (1 Sm 1:2).

But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

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