My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and my master has given him everything he owns.
Parallel translations
- WEB Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master when she was old. He has given all that he has to him.
- KJV And Sarah my master’s wife bare a son to my master when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath.
- NKJV And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and to him he has given all that he has.
- NASB Now my master’s wife Sarah bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him all that he has.
- NLT “When Sarah, my master’s wife, was very old, she gave birth to my master’s son, and my master has given him everything he owns.
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
He explains that Sarah bore Isaac in her old age, and Abraham has given all to him. He establishes Isaac as the sole heir of Abraham's blessing.
Overview
The servant highlights Isaac as the son miraculously born to aged Sarah and now heir of everything. This underscores the worth of the proposed marriage into the covenant line. Isaac, the child of promise, is the one for whom a wife is sought.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Gen 25:5Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac.
- Gen 21:10and she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!”
- Gen 21:1–7Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.
- Gen 18:10–14Then 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.
- Gen 17:15–19Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai, for her name is to be Sarah.
- Rom 4:19Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a hundred years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb.
- Gen 11:29–30And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah.
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 24:36 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.