Genesis 21:7

21:7 She went on to say, ¹  “Who would ²  have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son for him in his old age!”

Genesis 21:1

The Birth of Isaac

21:1 The Lord visited ³  Sarah just as he had said he would and did ⁴  for Sarah what he had promised. ⁵ 

Genesis 1:24

1:24 God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” ⁶  It was so.

¹ tn Heb “said.”

² tn The perfect form of the verb is used here to describe a hypothetical situation.

³ sn The Hebrew verb translated “visit” (פָּקַד, paqad ) often describes divine intervention for blessing or cursing; it indicates God’s special attention to an individual or a matter, always with respect to his people’s destiny. He may visit (that is, destroy) the Amalekites; he may visit (that is, deliver) his people in Egypt. Here he visits Sarah, to allow her to have the promised child. One’s destiny is changed when the Lord “visits.” For a more detailed study of the term, see G. André, Determining the Destiny (ConBOT).

⁴ tn Heb “and the Lord did.” The divine name has not been repeated here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁵ tn Heb “spoken.”

⁶ tn There are three groups of land animals here: the cattle or livestock (mostly domesticated), things that creep or move close to the ground (such as reptiles or rodents), and the wild animals (all animals of the field). The three terms are general classifications without specific details.