Genesis 23:1
in Genesis 23Now Sarah lived to be 127 years old.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years: these were the years of the life of Sarah.
KJV
And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah.
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This verse in Genesis 23
Commentary
9 notes on this verseAnd Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old It is remarkable that Moses, who relates the death of Sarah in a single word, uses so many in describing her burial: but we shall soon see that the latter record is not superfluous.
This site's exposition
Sarah lived to be 127 years old
Sarah lived to be 127 years old, the only woman in Scripture whose years are counted at her death. Calvin notes that Moses gives the death in one word and then spends a whole chapter on the field and the cave, and Gill reports an old Jewish reading that word of the binding of Isaac killed her. Genesis gives no cause.
The record, by era
The Reformation1 voice
And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old It is remarkable that Moses, who relates the death of Sarah in a single word, uses so many in describing her burial: but we shall soon see that the latter record is not superfluous.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old,....
And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old, &c.--Sarah is the only woman in Scripture whose age, death, and burial are mentioned, probably to do honor to the venerable mother of the Hebrew people.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old, &c.--Sarah is the only woman in Scripture whose age, death, and burial are mentioned, probably to do honor to the venerable mother of the Hebrew people.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
And Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years old - It is worthy of remark that Sarah is the only woman in the sacred writings whose age, death, and burial are distinctly noted. And she has been deemed worthy of higher honor, for St. Paul, Gal 4:22, Gal 4:23, makes her a type of the Church of Christ; and her faith in the accomplishment of God’s promise, that she should have a son, when all natural probabilities were against it, is particularly celebrated in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 11:11. Sarah was about ninety-one years old when Isaac was born, and she lived thirty-six years after, and saw him grown up to man’s estate. With Sarah the promise of the incarnation of Christ commenced, though a comparatively obscure prophecy of it had been delivered to Eve, Gen 3:15; and with Mary it terminated, having had its exact completion. Thus God put more honor upon these two women than upon all the daughters of Eve besides. Sarah’s conception of Isaac was supernatural; she had passed the age and circumstances in which it was possible, naturally speaking, to have a child; therefore she laughed when the promise was given, knowing that the thing was impossible, because it had ceased to be with her after the manner of women. God allows this natural impossibility, and grants that the thing must be the effect of Divine interposition; and therefore asks, Is any thing too hard for God? The physical impossibility was in creased in the case of Mary, she having no connection with man; but the same power interposed as in the case of Sarah: and we find that when all aptitude for natural procreation was gone, Sarah received strength to conceive seed, and bore a son, from whom, in a direct line, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, was to descend; and through this same power we find a virgin conceiving and bearing a son against all natural impossibilities.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
- The Death of Sarah 2. ארבע קרית qı̂ryat-'arba‛, “Qirjath-arba‘, city of Arba.” ארבע 'arba‛, “Arba‘, four.” 8. עפרון ‛eprôn, “‘Ephron, of the dust, or resembling a calf.” צחר tshochar, “Tsochar, whiteness.” 9. מכפלה makpêlâh, “Makpelah, doubled.” The death and burial of Sarah are here recorded. This occasions the purchase of the field of Makpelah, in the cave of which is her sepulchre. Gen 23:1-2 Sarah is the only woman whose age is recorded in Scripture.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
A HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS Rashi comments: “The reason the word ‘years’ is written at every term is that it informs you that each term must be interpreted by itself.
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. 5 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
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּהְיוּ֙ | vaiyihyu | and they were | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| חַיֵּ֣י | chaiyei | [the] life of | H2416 → | 498 times |
| שָׂרָ֔ה | sarah | Sarah | H8283 → | 38 times |
| מֵאָ֥ה | meah | one hundred | H3967 → | 581 times |
| שָׁנָ֛ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים | veesrim | and twenty | H6242 → | 315 times |
| שָׁנָ֖ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| וְשֶׁ֣בַע | vesheva' | and seven | H7651 → | 394 times |
| שָׁנִ֑ים | shanim | years | H8141 → | 877 times |
| שְׁנֵ֖י | shenei | [the] years of | H8141 → | 877 times |
| חַיֵּ֥י | chaiyei | [the] life of | H2416 → | 498 times |
| שָׂרָֽה׃ | sarah | Sarah | H8283 → | 38 times |
וַיִּהְיוּ֙and they were
vaiyihyuH1961 →3559 times
חַיֵּ֣י[the] life of
chaiyeiH2416 →498 times
שָׂרָ֔הSarah
sarahH8283 →38 times
מֵאָ֥הone hundred
meahH3967 →581 times
שָׁנָ֛הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
וְעֶשְׂרִ֥יםand twenty
veesrimH6242 →315 times
שָׁנָ֖הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
וְשֶׁ֣בַעand seven
vesheva'H7651 →394 times
שָׁנִ֑יםyears
shanimH8141 →877 times
שְׁנֵ֖י[the] years of
sheneiH8141 →877 times
חַיֵּ֥י[the] life of
chaiyeiH2416 →498 times
שָׂרָֽה׃Sarah
sarahH8283 →38 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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
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.”
- Genesis 18:12
So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
- Genesis 17:3
Then Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,
- John 8:56
Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see My day. He saw it and was glad.”
- Romans 4:19–20
Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a hundred years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb.
- Genesis 21:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
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About Genesis

Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).
