Genesis 17:16-17

17:16 I will bless her and will give you a son through her. I will bless her and she will become a mother of nations. ¹  Kings of countries ²  will come from her!”

17:17 Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed ³  as he said to himself, ⁴  “Can ⁵  a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? ⁶  Can Sarah ⁷  bear a child at the age of ninety?” ⁸ 

Luke 1:13

1:13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, ⁹  and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you ¹⁰  will name him John. ¹¹ 

Luke 1:30-31

1:30 So ¹²  the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, ¹³  Mary, for you have found favor ¹⁴  with God! 1:31 Listen: ¹⁵  You will become pregnant ¹⁶  and give birth to ¹⁷  a son, and you will name him ¹⁸  Jesus. ¹⁹ 

[17:16]  ¹ tn Heb “she will become nations.”

[17:16]  ² tn Heb “peoples.”

[17:17]  ³ 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.

[17:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “And he fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart.”

[17:17]  ⁵ tn The imperfect verbal form here carries a potential nuance, as it expresses the disbelief of Abraham.

[17:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “to the son of a hundred years.”

[17:17]  ⁷ 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).

[17:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “the daughter of ninety years.”

[1:13]  ⁹ tn The passive means that the prayer was heard by God.

[1:13]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “a son, and you”; καί (kai) has not been translated. Instead a semicolon is used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:13]  ¹¹ tn Grk “you will call his name John.” The future tense here functions like a command (see ExSyn 569-70). This same construction occurs in v. 31.

[1:30]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Gabriel’s statement is a response to Mary’s perplexity over the greeting.

[1:30]  ¹³ sn Do not be afraid. See 1:13 for a similar statement to Zechariah.

[1:30]  ¹⁴ tn Or “grace.”

[1:31]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “And behold.”

[1:31]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “you will conceive in your womb.”

[1:31]  ¹⁷ tn Or “and bear.”

[1:31]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “you will call his name.”

[1:31]  ¹⁹ tn See v. 13 for a similar construction.