Genesis 17:17

17:17 Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed ¹  as he said to himself, ²  “Can ³  a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? ⁴  Can Sarah ⁵  bear a child at the age of ninety?” ⁶ 

Genesis 18:11-14

18:11 Abraham and Sarah were old and advancing in years; ⁷  Sarah had long since passed menopause.) ⁸  18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, ⁹  “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, ¹⁰  especially when my husband is old too?” ¹¹ 

18:13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why ¹²  did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really ¹³  have a child when I am old?’ 18:14 Is anything impossible ¹⁴  for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁵ 

Hebrews 11:11-19

11:11 By faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and he was too old, ¹⁶  he received the ability to procreate, ¹⁷  because he regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy. 11:12 So in fact children ¹⁸  were fathered by one man – and this one as good as dead – like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand ¹⁹  on the seashore. ²⁰  11:13 These all died in faith without receiving the things promised, ²¹  but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners ²²  on the earth. 11:14 For those who speak in such a way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 11:15 In fact, if they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 11:16 But as it is, ²³  they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He had received the promises, ²⁴  yet he was ready to offer up ²⁵  his only son. 11:18 God had told him, “Through Isaac descendants will carry on your name,” ²⁶  11:19 and he reasoned ²⁷  that God could even raise him from the dead, and in a sense ²⁸  he received him back from there.

¹ sn Laughed. The Hebrew verb used here provides the basis for the naming of Isaac: “And he laughed” is וַיִּצְחָק (vayyitskhaq); the name “Isaac” is יִצְחָק (yitskhaq), “he laughs.” Abraham’s (and Sarah’s, see 18:12) laughter signals disbelief, but when the boy is born, the laughter signals surprise and joy.

² tn Heb “And he fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart.”

³ tn The imperfect verbal form here carries a potential nuance, as it expresses the disbelief of Abraham.

⁴ tn Heb “to the son of a hundred years.”

⁵ sn It is important to note that even though Abraham staggers at the announcement of the birth of a son, finding it almost too incredible, he nonetheless calls his wife Sarah, the new name given to remind him of the promise of God (v. 15).

⁶ tn Heb “the daughter of ninety years.”

⁷ tn Heb “days.”

⁸ tn Heb “it had ceased to be for Sarah [after] a way like women.”

⁹ tn Heb “saying.”

¹⁰ tn It has been suggested that this word should be translated “conception,” not “pleasure.” See A. A. McIntosh, “A Third Root ‘adah in Biblical Hebrew,” VT 24 (1974): 454-73.

¹¹ tn The word “too” has been added in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹² tn Heb “Why, this?” The demonstrative pronoun following the interrogative pronoun is enclitic, emphasizing the Lord’s amazement: “Why on earth did Sarah laugh?”

¹³ tn The Hebrew construction uses both הַאַף (ha’af) and אֻמְנָם (’umnam): “Indeed, truly, will I have a child?”

¹⁴ tn The Hebrew verb פָּלָא (pala’) means “to be wonderful, to be extraordinary, to be surpassing, to be amazing.”

¹⁵ sn Sarah will have a son. The passage brings God’s promise into clear focus. As long as it was a promise for the future, it really could be believed without much involvement. But now, when it seemed so impossible from the human standpoint, when the Lord fixed an exact date for the birth of the child, the promise became rather overwhelming to Abraham and Sarah. But then this was the Lord of creation, the one they had come to trust. The point of these narratives is that the creation of Abraham’s offspring, which eventually became Israel, is no less a miraculous work of creation than the creation of the world itself.

¹⁶ tn Grk “past the time of maturity.”

¹⁷ tn Grk “power to deposit seed.” Though it is not as likely, some construe this phrase to mean “power to conceive seed,” making the whole verse about Sarah: “by faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and too old, she received ability to conceive, because she regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy.”

¹⁸ tn Grk “these”; in the translation the referent (children) has been specified for clarity.

¹⁹ tn Grk a collective “the sand.”

²⁰ sn An allusion to Gen 22:17 (which itself goes back to Gen 15:5).

²¹ tn Grk “the promises,” referring to the things God promised, not to the pledges themselves.

²² tn Or “sojourners.”

²³ tn Grk “now.”

²⁴ tn Here “received the promises” refers to the pledges themselves, not to the things God promised.

²⁵ tn Grk “he was offering up.” The tense of this verb indicates the attempt or readiness to sacrifice Isaac without the actual completion of the deed.

²⁶ tn Grk “in Isaac seed will be named for you.”

²⁷ tn Grk “having reasoned,” continuing the ideas of v. 17.

²⁸ tn Grk “in/by a symbol.”