So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
Parallel translations
- WEB Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
- KJV Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
- NKJV Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
- NASB So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, am I to have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
- NLT So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?”
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
Sarah laughs to herself in disbelief at the thought of bearing a child in old age.
Overview
Her inward laughter mingles doubt with the sheer improbability of the promise. Though her response is flawed, Scripture later commends her faith (Hebrews 11:11), showing God's grace toward weak believers. The episode reminds us that God's promises often outrun our ability to imagine them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Gen 17:17Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?”
- 1 Pet 3:6just as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. And you are her children if you do what is right and refuse to give way to fear.
- Luke 1:18–20“How can I be sure of this?” Zechariah asked the angel. “I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.”
- Luke 1:34–35“How can this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
- Gen 18:13And the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really bear a child when I am old?’
- Gen 21:6–7Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”
- Heb 11:11–12By faith Sarah, even though she was barren and beyond the proper age, was enabled to conceive a child, because she considered Him faithful who had promised.
- Ps 126:2Then our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with shouts of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
- Eph 5:33Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
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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 18:12 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
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