² But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you possibly give me, since I still have no children? The head of my household is Eliezer, a man from Damascus.”^{[a] 3} He continued, “Since you haven’t given me any children, the head of my household will be my heir.”

⁴ The Lord’s word came immediately to him, “This man will not be your heir. Your heir will definitely be your very own biological child.”

Hagar and the Ishmaelites’ origins

16 Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to have children. Since she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar, ² Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from giving birth, so go to my servant. Maybe she will provide me with children.” Abram did just as Sarai said. ³ After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took her Egyptian servant Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.

¹⁵ God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you will no longer call her Sarai. Her name will now be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her and even give you a son from her. I will bless her so that she will become nations, and kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷ Abraham fell on his face and laughed. He said to himself, Can a 100-year-old man become a father, or Sarah, a 90-year-old woman, have a child? ¹⁸ To God Abraham said, “If only you would accept Ishmael!”

⁹ They said to him, “Where’s your wife Sarah?”

And he said, “Right here in the tent.”

¹⁰ Then one of the men said, “I will definitely return to you about this time next year. Then your wife Sarah will have a son!”

Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. ¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were both very old. Sarah was no longer menstruating. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, I’m no longer able to have children and my husband’s old.