Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent.
Parallel translations
- WEB He said, “I will certainly return to you at about this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.
- KJV And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.
- BSB Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was behind him, listening at the entrance to the tent.
- NKJV And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.)
- NASB He said, “I will certainly return to you at this time next year; and behold, your wife Sarah will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The LORD promises that within a year Sarah will have a son, and she overhears.
Overview
God fixes a precise timetable, leaving no doubt that the long-delayed promise is about to be fulfilled. Sarah's listening at the tent door sets up her reaction in the next verses. This renewed promise advances the covenant line that leads ultimately to Christ (Galatians 4:23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Gen 21:2Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
- Gen 17:21But my covenant I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.”
- Rom 9:8–9That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as heirs.
- Gen 17:16I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.”
- 2 Kgs 4:16–17He said, “At this season, when the time comes around, you will embrace a son.” She said, “No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your servant.”
- Gen 17:19God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.
- Gal 4:28Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
- Gal 4:23However, the son by the servant was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise.
- Luke 1:13But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
- Gen 18:13–14Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?’
- Gen 22:15–16Yahweh’s angel called to Abraham a second time out of the sky,
- Gen 16:10Yahweh’s angel said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, that they will not be counted for multitude.”
- Judg 13:3–5Yahweh’s angel appeared to the woman, and said to her, “See now, you are barren and childless; but you shall conceive, and bear a son.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 18:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.