Luke 1:58

1:58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

Genesis 21:6

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

Proverbs 15:20

15:20 A wise child brings joy to his father,

but a foolish person despises his mother.

Proverbs 23:15

23:15 My child, 10  if your heart is wise,

then my heart also will be glad;

Proverbs 23:24

23:24 The father of a righteous person will rejoice greatly; 11 

whoever fathers a wise child 12  will have joy in him.


tn Grk “And her.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

tn Grk “had magnified his mercy with her.”

tn The verb συνέχαιρον (sunecairon) is an imperfect and could be translated as an ingressive force, “they began to rejoice.”

tn Heb “Laughter God has made for me.”

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

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).

tn Heb “son.”

tn Heb “a fool of a man,” a genitive of specification.

sn The proverb is almost the same as 10:1, except that “despises” replaces “grief.” This adds the idea of the callousness of the one who inflicts grief on his mother (D. Kidner, Proverbs [TOTC], 116).

10 tn Heb “my son,” although the context does not limit this exhortation to male children.

11 tc The Qere reading has the imperfect יָגִיל (yagil) with the cognate accusative גִּיל (gil) which intensifies the meaning and the specific future of this verb.

12 tn The term “child” is supplied for the masculine singular adjective here.