Genesis 18:12
in Genesis 18So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
KJV
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
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This verse in Genesis 18
Commentary
10 notes on this verse(Verse 12.) But Sarah laughed within herself, saying: After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure? It is much differently read in Hebrew: And Sarah laughed within herself, saying: After I have withered, shall I have pleasure? Also note that where we have translated as pleasure, it is written as delight in Hebrew. Symmachus translated this passage as: After I have grown old, shall I have youth?
This site's exposition
well along in years
on Genesis 18:11-12
The narrator stops to state the physical fact, that Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Her barrenness was announced at 11:30, and twenty-five years stand between the promise of 12:2 and the birth at 21:2. She laughed to herself and said nothing aloud. Peter picks up her words, my master is old, at 1 Peter 3:6.
This site's exposition
she laughed to herself
Sarah laughed to herself at the promise of a son in her old age. Adam Clarke reads the laugh as pleasure at the thought mixed with doubt that it could happen, like the exiles of Psalm 126 who laughed at news too good to be true. She is worn out, and her master is old.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Why did Sarah laugh, saying: "Shall I indeed bear a child, old as I am?" It remains to be understood that when she heard that Sarah would bear a son, Abraham had previously laughed in wonder with joy, and Sarah herself subsequently doubted in joy; …
Who laughed secretly, saying: After I have grown old and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure? The Apostle Peter recalls this sentence when, admonishing women to obey their husbands, he added: "As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord."
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Sarah laughed within herself - It was not a laughter of faith, like Abraham's, chap. xvii, 17, but a laughter of doubting and distrust. The great objection which Sarah could not get over was her age. I am waxed old, and past child-bearing in a course of nature, especially having been hitherto barren, and which magnifies the difficulty, My Lord is old also.
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself,....
And thus must we be apt to take notice of what is spoken decently and well, to the honour of those that speak it, though it may be mixed with that which is amiss, over which we should cast a mantle of love. Human improbability often sets up in contradiction to the divine promise. The objections of sense are very apt to stumble and puzzle the weak faith even of true believers.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Sarah laughed - Partly through pleasure at the bare idea of the possibility of the thing, and partly from a conviction that it was extremely improbable. She appears to have been in the same spirit, and to have had the same feelings of those who, unexpectedly hearing of something of great consequence to themselves, smile and say, “The news is too good to be true;”, see Gen 21:6. There is a case very similar to this mentioned Psa 126:1, Psa 126:2. On Abraham’s laughing, See note on Gen 17:17.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself--Long delay seems to have weakened faith. Sarah treated the announcement as incredible, and when taxed with the silent sneer, she added falsehood to distrust. It was an aggravated offense (Ac 5:4), and nothing but grace saved her (Ro 9:18).
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
עדנה, a form of the skin becoming elastic and the wrinkles straightening out.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
‘BA’IM BAYAMIM’ (ADVANCED IN DAYS). In his youthful days a man is called “standing in days,” and they are referred to as “his days” because they belong to him, just as in verse The number of thy days will I fulfill. 97 Exodus:26.
This is the explanation of Sarah’s words, after I am waxed old. 98 Verse 12 here.
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. 2 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
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַתִּצְחַ֥ק | vatitzchak | and she laughed | H6711 → | 13 times |
| שָׂרָ֖ה | sarah | Sarah | H8283 → | 38 times |
| בְּקִרְבָּ֣הּ | bekirbah | in inner being her | H7130 → | 227 times |
| לֵאמֹ֑ר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אַחֲרֵ֤י | ʾacharei | after | H310 → | 715 times |
| בְלֹתִי֙ | veloti | am worn out I | H1086 → | |
| הָֽיְתָה־ | hayetah- | has it be[longed]? | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לִּ֣י | li | to <the> me | ||
| עֶדְנָ֔ה | ʾednah | pleasure | H5730 → | |
| וַֽאדֹנִ֖י | vadoni | and lord my | H113 → | 333 times |
| זָקֵֽן׃ | zaken | he is old | H2204 → | 27 times |
וַתִּצְחַ֥קand she laughed
vatitzchakH6711 →13 times
שָׂרָ֖הSarah
sarahH8283 →38 times
בְּקִרְבָּ֣הּin inner being her
bekirbahH7130 →227 times
לֵאמֹ֑ר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
אַחֲרֵ֤יafter
ʾachareiH310 →715 times
בְלֹתִי֙am worn out I
velotiH1086 →
הָֽיְתָה־has it be[longed]?
hayetah-H1961 →3559 times
לִּ֣יto <the> me
li
עֶדְנָ֔הpleasure
ʾednahH5730 →
וַֽאדֹנִ֖יand lord my
vadoniH113 →333 times
זָקֵֽן׃he is old
zakenH2204 →27 times
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
1 Peter 3:6just as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. And you are her children if you do what is right and refuse to give way to fear.
it leads to
- Romans 9:7–9
Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”
- Isaiah 57:11
Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lied and failed to remember Me or take this to heart? Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear…
- Daniel 3:16–18
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
- Acts 4:19
But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God.
- Matthew 26:69–75
Meanwhile, Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came up to him. “You also were with Jesus the Galilean,” she said.
- Romans 9:7–9
Through
Genesis 17:17Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?”
it leads to
- Genesis 21:6
Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”
- Revelation 11:16
And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,
- Genesis 17:3
Then Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,
- Genesis 21:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
About Genesis
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.