Genesis 18:12 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?"

NIV: So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?"

NASB: So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, 'After I have become old, am I to have pleasure, my lord being old also?'

CSB: So she laughed to herself: "After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have delight?"

NLT: So she laughed silently to herself and said, 'How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master — my husband — is also so old?'

KJV: Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?

NKJV: Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

Abraham is speaking with three strangers who appeared near his tent. His first response to their arrival was to prepare a large, sumptuous feast of bread and meat. As Abraham will now know for sure, these men are actually a physical manifestation of God and two angels. Standing in the nearby tent, Sarah has heard the Lord's statement that by this time next year she would have a son. It's unclear whether or not Sarah understood at this point that it was the Lord speaking.

What Sarah did understand is that she had been barren her entire life, unable to conceive a child with Abraham. Now at the age of 90 or so, she had passed menopause. Some commentators suggest that she and Abraham, about 100 himself, had long since stopped even having intercourse.

All of the evidence of Sarah's life told her that having a baby was impossible. So, her initial response to the idea was the same as Abraham's had been: Sarah laughed in unbelief. That response seems entirely understandable to us. The Lord, however, will gently rebuke her for it in the following verses. That rebuke, in a humorously ironic way, will include the name of the child she is about to conceive: Isaac, meaning "he laughs."

Genesis 18:9–15 describes the moment when Sarah overhears a prediction that she will soon bear a child. Given that she is 90 years old, and her husband is approaching 100, Sarah's first response to this is to laugh in disbelief. The person speaking, however, is actually God in human form, and He gently reminds her that such things are well within His awesome power.

Abraham hurries to offer respect and hospitality to three men who appear near his tent. Over the course of the chapter, the men reveal themselves to be the Lord and two angels in human form. As He had told Abraham in the previous chapter, the Lord now reveals to Sarah that she will have a son within the year. Later, the Lord poetically says He will investigate the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, where Abraham's nephew Lot lives. Abraham asks, and the Lord agrees, not to destroy Sodom if God finds 10 righteous people there.

God appeared to Abraham in the previous chapter revealing, in part, that Sarah would bear Abraham a son within a year's time. Now the Lord appears again, this time in human form and accompanied by two disguised angels. He reveals to Sarah the same promise. She laughs, and the Lord insists that even her age isn't too hard for Him to overcome. Next the Lord reveals to Abraham that He will investigate the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham receives the Lord's promise not to destroy Sodom (where Abraham's nephew lives) if He finds 10 righteous people in the city. Unfortunately, the city is beyond saving, and the next chapter details its utter destruction.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.