Genesis 16:14
in Genesis 16Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. It is located between Kadesh and Bered.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
KJV
Wherefore the well was called Beer–lahai–roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
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This verse in Genesis 16
Commentary
9 notes on this verseIt is well too that the vision of the instructing Word was seen "between Kadesh and Bered." Kadesh in fact is interpreted to mean "holy," and Bered, "lightning."
This site's exposition
the LORD who had spoken to her
on Genesis 16:13-14
Hagar is the first person in Scripture to name God. She calls the LORD who had spoken to her the God who sees me, and Clarke reads the One who spoke here as Christ appearing before His birth, while other readers take him as a created messenger. The well between Kadesh and Bered keeps her name for Him, Beer-lahai-roi.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
In the verses read before, it was an "angel of God" who was speaking with Hagar. Here she names him "Lord" and "God." It is not too much of a stretch to say that the angel was not in the service of his own words …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
It is probable that Hagar put this name upon it; and it was retained long after, in perpetuam rei memoriam--a lasting memorial of this event. This was a place where the God of glory manifested the special cognizance and care he took of a poor woman in distress.
1 ), O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. (3.) A believing regard to God, as a God that sees us, will be of great use to us in our returns to him. It is a proper word for a penitent:-- [1.] "Thou seest my sin and folly." I have sinned before thee, says the prodigal; in thy sight, says David. [2.] "Thou seest my sorrow and affliction;" this Hagar especially refers to.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi - It appears, from Gen 16:7, that Hagar had sat down by a fountain or well of water in the wilderness of Shur, at which the Angel of the Lord found her; and, to commemorate the wonderful discovery which God had made of himself, she called the name of the well באר לחי ראי beer-lachai-roi, “A well to the Living One who seeth me.”
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
You know the story of Hagar. I am not going to deal with the allegorical meaning of it—that would be apart from our subject this morning. I shall speak of the incident simply as it stands, but even then I shall not use it strictly as a case of sure conversion, for I am not certain that it was such.
You know the story of Hagar. I am not going to deal with the allegorical meaning of it—that would be apart from our subject this morning. I shall speak of the incident simply as it stands, but even then I shall not use it strictly as a case of sure conversion, for I am not certain that it was such. I suppose Hagar to have been an Egyptian woman, probably one of the maidservants who were given by the King of Egypt to Abram at that unhappy time when Abram's faith failed him and he went down into Egypt and requested Sarai to conceal the fact that she was his wife. Sin, whenever it is committed by the child of God, is sure to involve him in sorrow. In the long run, the result of any false dealing comes home to the Believer and it does so in very unexpected ways. Hagar became the special maid of Sarai. God had promised to Abram that he should have a son and that thus he should be the father of nations. That blessing did not appear likely to come to him, for there were no children born to Sarai, nor did there seem to be the possibility of any. Husband and wife were both old and well stricken in years. No special mention had been made of Sarai in the promise as it then stood and, therefore, it was not clear to Abram but what some other might be the mother of the expected seed. And when, in her unbelief, Sarai proposed that her maid should become his secondary wife, Abram listened to her. According to the custom of the times and of oriental nations, this act was right enough, but as it was not really right, in itself, and showed littleness of faith on Abram's part. Sorrow soon came of it. Hagar began to behave herself proudly towards her mistress and her mistress, finding herself despised, complained to Abram and began, also, to behave harshly towards her. The wrong element would not work in Abram's family.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Beer lahai means the well of him who will be alive next year. 23 According to Bachya, I.E.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּן֙ | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| קָרָ֣א | kara' | someone called | H7121 → | 733 times |
| לַבְּאֵ֔ר | labeer | <to> the well | H875 → | 38 times |
| בְּאֵ֥ר | beer | Beer | H883 → | 9 times |
| לַחַ֖י | lachai | Lahai | H883 → | 9 times |
| רֹאִ֑י | roi | Roi | H883 → | 9 times |
| הִנֵּ֥ה | hineh | there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| בֵין־ | vein- | [it is] between | H996 → | 407 times |
| קָדֵ֖שׁ | kadesh | Kadesh | H6946 → | 18 times |
| וּבֵ֥ין | uvein | and between | H996 → | 407 times |
| בָּֽרֶד׃ | bared | Bered | H1260 → |
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּן֙-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
קָרָ֣אsomeone called
kara'H7121 →733 times
לַבְּאֵ֔ר<to> the well
labeerH875 →38 times
בְּאֵ֥רBeer
beerH883 →9 times
לַחַ֖יLahai
lachaiH883 →9 times
רֹאִ֑יRoi
roiH883 →9 times
הִנֵּ֥הthere!
hinehH2009 →843 times
בֵין־[it is] between
vein-H996 →407 times
קָדֵ֖שׁKadesh
kadeshH6946 →18 times
וּבֵ֥יןand between
uveinH996 →407 times
בָּֽרֶד׃Bered
baredH1260 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 24:62Now Isaac had just returned from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev.
it leads to
- Genesis 20:1
Now Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 25:11
After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi.
- Genesis 20:1
Through
Genesis 25:11After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi.
it leads to
- Genesis 22:17
I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
- Genesis 24:62
Now Isaac had just returned from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev.
- Genesis 12:2
I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
- Genesis 17:19
But God replied, “Your wife Sarah will indeed bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after…
- Genesis 22:17
Through
Genesis 14:7Then they turned back to invade En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 20:2
Then some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the Sea; they are already in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, En-gedi).
- 2 Chronicles 20:2
Through
Genesis 21:31So that place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.
it leads to
- Genesis 26:33
So he called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the city is Beersheba.
- Genesis 26:33
Where this verse is studied
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On this verse
About Genesis
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1869: “Hagar at the Fountain” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Didymus the Blind, ON GENESIS 249; Didymus the Blind, ON GENESIS 247-48; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.