Kejadian 16:1

The Birth of Ishmael

16:1 Now Sarai, ¹  Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, ²  but she had an Egyptian servant ³  named Hagar. ⁴ 

Kejadian 18:11

18:11 Abraham and Sarah were old and advancing in years; ⁵  Sarah had long since passed menopause.) ⁶ 

Kejadian 25:21

25:21 Isaac prayed to ⁷  the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

Kejadian 29:31

The Family of Jacob

29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, ⁸  he enabled her to become pregnant ⁹  while Rachel remained childless.

Kejadian 30:1

30:1 When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she ¹⁰  became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children ¹¹  or I’ll die!”

Kejadian 30:22

30:22 Then God took note of ¹²  Rachel. He paid attention to her and enabled her to become pregnant. ¹³ 

Hakim-hakim 13:2

13:2 There was a man named Manoah from Zorah, from the Danite tribe. His wife was infertile and childless. ¹⁴ 

Hakim-hakim 13:1

Samson’s Birth

13:1 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight, ¹⁵  so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

1 Samuel 1:5

1:5 But he would give a double ¹⁶  portion to Hannah, because he especially loved her. ¹⁷  Now the Lord had not enabled her to have children. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 113:9

113:9 He makes the barren woman of the family ¹⁹ 

a happy mother of children. ²⁰ 

Praise the Lord!

Lukas 1:7

1:7 But they did not have a child, because Elizabeth was barren, ²¹  and they were both very old. ²² 

Lukas 1:36

1:36 “And look, ²³  your relative ²⁴  Elizabeth has also become pregnant with ²⁵  a son in her old age – although she was called barren, she is now in her sixth month! ²⁶ 

[16:1]  ¹ tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of a new episode in the story.

[16:1]  ² sn On the cultural background of the story of Sarai’s childlessness see J. Van Seters, “The Problem of Childlessness in Near Eastern Law and the Patriarchs of Israel,” JBL 87 (1968): 401-8.

[16:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew term שִׁפְחָה (shifkhah, translated “servant” here and in vv. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8) refers to a menial female servant.

[16:1]  ⁴ sn The passage records the birth of Ishmael to Abram through an Egyptian woman. The story illustrates the limits of Abram’s faith as he tries to obtain a son through social custom. The barrenness of Sarai poses a challenge to Abram’s faith, just as the famine did in chap. 12. As in chap. 12, an Egyptian figures prominently. (Perhaps Hagar was obtained as a slave during Abram’s stay in Egypt.)

[18:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “days.”

[18:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “it had ceased to be for Sarah [after] a way like women.”

[25:21]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew verb עָתַר (’atar), translated “prayed [to]” here, appears in the story of God’s judgment on Egypt in which Moses asked the Lord to remove the plagues. The cognate word in Arabic means “to slaughter for sacrifice,” and the word is used in Zeph 3:10 to describe worshipers who bring offerings. Perhaps some ritual accompanied Isaac’s prayer here.

[29:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “hated.” The rhetorical device of overstatement is used (note v. 30, which says simply that Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah) to emphasize that Rachel, as Jacob’s true love and the primary object of his affections, had an advantage over Leah.

[29:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “he opened up her womb.”

[30:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Rachel.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“she”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “sons.”

[30:22]  ¹² tn Heb “remembered.”

[30:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “and God listened to her and opened up her womb.” Since “God” is the subject of the previous clause, the noun has been replaced by the pronoun “he” in the translation for stylistic reasons

[13:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and had not given birth.”

[13:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[1:5]  ¹⁶ tn The exact sense of the Hebrew word אַפָּיִם (’appayim, “two faces”) is not certain here. It is most likely used with the preceding expression (“one portion of two faces”) to mean a portion double than normally received. Although evidence for this use of the word derives primarily from Aramaic rather than from Hebrew usage, it provides an understanding that fits the context here better than other suggestions for the word do. The meaning “double” is therefore adopted in the present translation. Other possibilities for the meaning of the word include the following: “heavily” (cf. Vulg., tristis) and “worthy” or “choice” (cf. KJV and Targum). Some scholars have followed the LXX here, emending the word to אֶפֶס (’efes) and translating it as “but” or “however.” This seems unnecessary. The translators of the LXX may simply have been struggling to make sense of the word rather than following a Hebrew text that was different from the MT here.

[1:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for Hannah he loved.” Repetition of the proper name would seem redundant in contemporary English, so the pronoun (“her”) has been used here for clarity. The translation also adds the adverb “especially” to clarify the meaning of the text. Without this addition one might get the impression that only Hannah, not Peninnah, was loved by her husband. But the point of the text is that Hannah was his favorite.

[1:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the Lord had closed her womb.” So also in v. 6. The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is pertinent to the story.

[113:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “of the house.”

[113:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “sons.”

[1:7]  ²¹ sn Elizabeth was barren. Both Zechariah and Elizabeth are regarded by Luke as righteous in the sight of God, following all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly (v. 6). With this language, reminiscent of various passages in the OT, Luke is probably drawing implicit comparisons to the age and barrenness of such famous OT personalities as Abraham and Sarah (see, e.g., Gen 18:9-15), the mother of Samson (Judg 13:2-5), and Hannah, the mother of Samuel (1 Sam 1:1-20). And, as it was in the case of these OT saints, so it is with Elizabeth: After much anguish and seeking the Lord, she too is going to have a son in her barrenness. In that day it was a great reproach to be childless, for children were a sign of God’s blessing (cf. Gen 1:28; Lev 20:20-21; Pss 127 and 128; Jer 22:30). As the dawn of salvation draws near, however, God will change this elderly couple’s grief into great joy and grant them the one desire time had rendered impossible.

[1:7]  ²² tn Grk “were both advanced in days” (an idiom for old age).

[1:36]  ²³ tn Grk “behold.”

[1:36]  ²⁴ tn Some translations render the word συγγενίς (sungeni") as “cousin” (so Phillips) but the term is not necessarily this specific.

[1:36]  ²⁵ tn Or “has conceived.”

[1:36]  ²⁶ tn Grk “and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren.” Yet another note on Elizabeth’s loss of reproach also becomes a sign of the truth of the angel’s declaration.