Genesis 16

Genesis 16 read aloud, in a fresh direct translation from the Hebrew — plain modern English, nothing added. Translator's notes: • Genesis 16:2 — אוּלַי אִבָּנֶה (ulai ibbaneh): chose "I will be built up through her". Alternatives: "I will have children through her", "I will be built into a family through her". Why: the verb is the ordinary word for building, sounded against the word for sons; the rendering keeps the building picture Sarai herself uses for gaining a household. • Genesis 16:12 — פֶּרֶא אָדָם (pere adam): chose "a wild donkey of a man". Alternatives: "a wild man", "an untamed man like a wild donkey". Why: the Hebrew sets the desert animal first and the man second, picturing the man by the animal; the rendering keeps the animal in the sentence rather than flattening it to a trait. • Genesis 16:13 — אֵל רֳאִי (El Roi): chose "El Roi". Alternatives: "the El who sees me", "El of seeing". Why: the compound is kept whole as a name, as the standing rule holds compounds together; Roi means "who sees" or "of seeing," and Hagar's own next words play on that seeing.