Genesis 21:8–21

The nineteenth-century artist Gustave Doré captured the haunting trauma of Hagar's story in an engraving of Hagar and Ishmael in the desert. The skin of water Abraham gave to Hagar lies empty on the ground; Ishmael lies nearly empty of life a few feet away, his small body almost invisible against the desert sands. Behind them, Hagar lifts her arms, in desperation and supplication. Even in her obvious pain, the long, bold lines of her body display strength. It is an image of a woman who has nothing left but her own right to grieve.