She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Parallel translations
- WEB She said, “Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”
- KJV And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.
- BSB She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
- NASB And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age.”
- NLT Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!”
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 marvels that she, in old age, now nurses a son for Abraham. She wonders aloud at God's astonishing gift.
Overview
Sarah expresses amazement that what no one could have predicted has come to pass through God's power. Her rhetorical question celebrates the sheer wonder of bearing a child long past natural hope. The verse magnifies God as the giver of life who delights to fulfill His promises in ways that leave His people astonished and grateful.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Isa 66:8Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she gave birth to her children.
- Gen 18:11–12Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
- 2 Th 1:10when he comes to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired among all those who have believed (because our testimony to you was believed) in that day.
- Num 23:23Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; Neither is there any divination with Israel. Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘What has God done!’
- Deut 4:32–34For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of the sky to the other, whether there has been anything as this great thing is, or has been heard like it?
- Eph 3:10to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places,
- Ps 86:10For you are great, and do wondrous things. You are God alone.
- Ps 86:8There is no one like you among the gods, Lord, nor any deeds like your deeds.
- Isa 49:21Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought these up? Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 21:7 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.