Genesis 18:12

18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, ¹  “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, ²  especially when my husband is old too?” ³ 

Genesis 21:6

21:6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. ⁴  Everyone who hears about this ⁵  will laugh ⁶  with me.”

John 8:56

8:56 Your father Abraham was overjoyed ⁷  to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.” ⁸ 

Romans 4:19-20

4:19 Without being weak in faith, he considered ⁹  his own body as dead ¹⁰  (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 4:20 He ¹¹  did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.

¹ tn Heb “saying.”

² 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.

³ tn The word “too” has been added in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁴ tn Heb “Laughter God has made for me.”

⁵ tn The words “about this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁶ sn Sarah’s words play on the name “Isaac” in a final triumphant manner. God prepared “laughter” (צְחֹק, ysÿkhoq ) for her, and everyone who hears about this “will laugh” (יִצְחַק, yitskhaq ) with her. The laughter now signals great joy and fulfillment, not unbelief (cf. Gen 18:12-15).

⁷ tn Or “rejoiced greatly.”

⁸ tn What is the meaning of Jesus’ statement that the patriarch Abraham “saw” his day and rejoiced? The use of past tenses would seem to refer to something that occurred during the patriarch’s lifetime. Genesis Rabbah 44:25ff, (cf. 59:6) states that Rabbi Akiba, in a debate with Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, held that Abraham had been shown not this world only but the world to come (this would include the days of the Messiah). More realistically, it is likely that Gen 22:13-15 lies behind Jesus’ words. This passage, known to rabbis as the Akedah (“Binding”), tells of Abraham finding the ram which will replace his son Isaac on the altar of sacrifice – an occasion of certain rejoicing.

⁹ tc Most mss (D F G Ψ 33 1881 Ï it) read “he did not consider” by including the negative particle (οὐ, ou), but others (א A B C 6 81 365 1506 1739 pc co) lack οὐ. The reading which includes the negative particle probably represents a scribal attempt to exalt the faith of Abraham by making it appear that his faith was so strong that he did not even consider the physical facts. But “here Paul does not wish to imply that faith means closing one’s eyes to reality, but that Abraham was so strong in faith as to be undaunted by every consideration” (TCGNT 451). Both on external and internal grounds, the reading without the negative particle is preferred.

¹⁰ tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A C D Ψ 33 Ï bo) have ἤδη (hdh, “already”) at this point in v. 19. But B F G 630 1739 1881 pc lat sa lack it. Since it appears to heighten the style of the narrative and since there is no easy accounting for an accidental omission, it is best to regard the shorter text as original. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

¹¹ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, δέ (de) has not been translated here.