1 Sarai, Abram’s wife, hadn’t been able to have any children for him. However, she owned a female Egyptian slave named Hagar, 2 so Sarai said to Abram, "Please listen to me. The Lord hasn’t let me have any children. So please go and sleep with my slave. Maybe I can have a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai had suggested. 3 So Sarai, Abram’s wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband as his wife. Abram had been living in the land of Canaan for ten years when this happened.
4 Abram slept with Hagar and she became pregnant. When she realized she was pregnant, she treated her mistress with contempt.16:4. "She looked at her mistress with contempt," literally, "her mistress looked small in her eyes." Another translation would be "she looked down on her mistress."
15 Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram. Abram named his son Ishmael. 16 Abram was 86 when Hagar had Ishmael.