The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken.
- KJV And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
- BSB Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.
- NKJV And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken.
- NASB Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised.
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 visits Sarah and does for her exactly as He had promised. God's faithfulness to His word is emphatically declared.
Overview
After long years of waiting, God acts precisely as He had said, underscoring that His promises never fail. The doubled statement, that He did 'as he had said' and 'as he had spoken,' stresses His unwavering faithfulness. The miraculous fulfillment in Sarah's barren old age assures believers that what God promises He will certainly accomplish, supremely in the gospel of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Ps 12:6Yahweh’s words are flawless words, as silver refined in a clay furnace, purified seven times.
- Gen 18:10He 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.
- Gen 18:14Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son.”
- 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.
- 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.
- 1 Sam 2:21Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before Yahweh.
- Matt 24:35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
- Titus 1:2in hope of eternal life, which God, who can’t lie, promised before time began;
- Ruth 1:6Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab; for she had heard in the country of Moab how Yahweh had visited his people in giving them bread.
- Rom 4:17–20As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were.
- Gal 4:28Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
- Gen 50:24Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
- 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.”
- Gen 17:21But my covenant I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.”
- Exod 4:31The people believed, and when they heard that Yahweh had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.
- Ps 106:4Remember me, Yahweh, with the favor that you show to your people. Visit me with your salvation,
- Luke 1:68“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people;
- Exod 3:16Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;
- Exod 20:5you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
- Luke 19:44and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn’t know the time of your visitation.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 21:1 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.