Kejadian 17:15-21
Konteks17:15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; 1 Sarah 2 will be her name. 17:16 I will bless her and will give you a son through her. I will bless her and she will become a mother of nations. 3 Kings of countries 4 will come from her!”
17:17 Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed 5 as he said to himself, 6 “Can 7 a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? 8 Can Sarah 9 bear a child at the age of ninety?” 10 17:18 Abraham said to God, “O that 11 Ishmael might live before you!” 12
17:19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. 13 I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual 14 covenant for his descendants after him. 17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. 15 I will indeed bless him, make him fruitful, and give him a multitude of descendants. 16 He will become the father of twelve princes; 17 I will make him into a great nation. 17:21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.”
Kejadian 18:10-15
Konteks18:10 One of them 18 said, “I will surely return 19 to you when the season comes round again, 20 and your wife Sarah will have a son!” 21 (Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, not far behind him. 22 18:11 Abraham and Sarah were old and advancing in years; 23 Sarah had long since passed menopause.) 24 18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, 25 “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, 26 especially when my husband is old too?” 27
18:13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why 28 did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really 29 have a child when I am old?’ 18:14 Is anything impossible 30 for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.” 31 18:15 Then Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. But the Lord said, “No! You did laugh.” 32
[17:15] 1 tn Heb “[As for] Sarai your wife, you must not call her name Sarai, for Sarah [will be] her name.”
[17:15] 2 sn Sarah. The name change seems to be a dialectical variation, both spellings meaning “princess” or “queen.” Like the name Abram, the name Sarai symbolized the past. The new name Sarah, like the name Abraham, would be a reminder of what God intended to do for Sarah in the future.
[17:16] 3 tn Heb “she will become nations.”
[17:17] 5 sn Laughed. The Hebrew verb used here provides the basis for the naming of Isaac: “And he laughed” is וַיִּצְחָק (vayyitskhaq); the name “Isaac” is יִצְחָק (yitskhaq), “he laughs.” Abraham’s (and Sarah’s, see 18:12) laughter signals disbelief, but when the boy is born, the laughter signals surprise and joy.
[17:17] 6 tn Heb “And he fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart.”
[17:17] 7 tn The imperfect verbal form here carries a potential nuance, as it expresses the disbelief of Abraham.
[17:17] 8 tn Heb “to the son of a hundred years.”
[17:17] 9 sn It is important to note that even though Abraham staggers at the announcement of the birth of a son, finding it almost too incredible, he nonetheless calls his wife Sarah, the new name given to remind him of the promise of God (v. 15).
[17:17] 10 tn Heb “the daughter of ninety years.”
[17:18] 11 tn The wish is introduced with the Hebrew particle לוּ (lu), “O that.”
[17:18] 12 tn Or “live with your blessing.”
[17:19] 13 tn Heb “will call his name Isaac.” The name means “he laughs,” or perhaps “may he laugh” (see the note on the word “laughed” in v. 17).
[17:19] 14 tn Or “as an eternal.”
[17:20] 15 sn The Hebrew verb translated “I have heard you” forms a wordplay with the name Ishmael, which means “God hears.” See the note on the name “Ishmael” in 16:11.
[17:20] 16 tn Heb “And I will multiply him exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.
[17:20] 17 tn For a discussion of the Hebrew word translated “princes,” see E. A. Speiser, “Background and Function of the Biblical Nasi’,” CBQ 25 (1963): 111-17.
[18:10] 18 tn Heb “he”; the referent (one of the three men introduced in v. 2) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Some English translations have specified the referent as the
[18:10] 19 tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic, using the infinitive absolute with the imperfect tense.
[18:10] sn I will surely return. If Abraham had not yet figured out who this was, this interchange would have made it clear. Otherwise, how would a return visit from this man mean Sarah would have a son?
[18:10] 20 tn Heb “as/when the time lives” or “revives,” possibly referring to the springtime.
[18:10] 21 tn Heb “and there will be (הִנֵּה, hinneh) a son for Sarah.”
[18:10] 22 tn This is the first of two disjunctive parenthetical clauses preparing the reader for Sarah’s response (see v. 12).
[18:11] 24 tn Heb “it had ceased to be for Sarah [after] a way like women.”
[18:12] 26 tn It has been suggested that this word should be translated “conception,” not “pleasure.” See A. A. McIntosh, “A Third Root ‘adah in Biblical Hebrew,” VT 24 (1974): 454-73.
[18:12] 27 tn The word “too” has been added in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[18:13] 28 tn Heb “Why, this?” The demonstrative pronoun following the interrogative pronoun is enclitic, emphasizing the
[18:13] 29 tn The Hebrew construction uses both הַאַף (ha’af) and אֻמְנָם (’umnam): “Indeed, truly, will I have a child?”
[18:14] 30 tn The Hebrew verb פָּלָא (pala’) means “to be wonderful, to be extraordinary, to be surpassing, to be amazing.”
[18:14] 31 sn Sarah will have a son. The passage brings God’s promise into clear focus. As long as it was a promise for the future, it really could be believed without much involvement. But now, when it seemed so impossible from the human standpoint, when the
[18:15] 32 tn Heb “And he said, ‘No, but you did laugh.’” The referent (the