Genesis 16:1-6

New International Reader's Version

Hagar and Ishmael

16 Abram’s wife Sarai had never had any children by him. But she had a female slave from Egypt named Hagar. ² So she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go and sleep with my slave. Maybe I can have a family through her.”

Abram agreed to what Sarai had said. ³ His wife Sarai gave him her slave Hagar to be his wife. That was after he had been living in Canaan for ten years. ⁴ Then he slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant.

When Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to look down on the woman who owned her. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “It’s your fault that I’m suffering like this. I put my slave in your arms. Now that she knows she’s pregnant, she looks down on me. May the Lord judge between you and me. May he decide which of us is right.”

⁶ “Your slave belongs to you,” Abram said. “Do with her what you think is best.” Then Sarai treated Hagar badly. So Hagar ran away from her.