Genesis 18:13
And the Lord said to Abraham: Why did Sara laugh, saying: Shall I who am an old woman bear a child indeed?
Open Genesis 18:13 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →In the palace
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Dixit autem Dominus ad Abraham : Quare risit Sara, dicens : Num vere paritura sum anus ?
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἶπεν Κύριος πρὸς Ἀβραάμ Ὅτι ἐγέλασεν Σάρρα ἐν ἑαυτῇ λέγουσα Ἆρά γε ἀληθῶς τέξομαι; ἐγὼ δὲ γεγήρακα.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֥אמֶר יְהוָ֖ה אֶל אַבְרָהָ֑ם לָ֣מָּה זֶּה֩ צָחֲקָ֨ה שָׂרָ֜ה לֵאמֹ֗ר הַאַ֥ף אֻמְנָ֛ם אֵלֵ֖ד וַאֲנִ֥י זָקַֽנְתִּי
Haydock's commentary
Indeed. This was the import of Sara's words. By thus revealing what was secretly done in the tent, he shewed himself to be more than man.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Justin Martyr Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LVI. God who appeared to
Then I replied, “You are aware, then, that the Scripture says, ‘And the Lord said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I truly conceive? for I am old. Is anything impossible with God? At the time appointed shall I return to thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.’ And after a little interval: ‘And the men rose up from thence, and looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah; and Abraham went with them, to bring them on the way. And the Lord said, I will not conceal from Abraham, my servant, what I do.’ And again, after a little, it thus says: ‘The Lord said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sins are very grievous. I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to their cry which has come unto me; and if not, that I may know. And the men turned away thence, and went to Sodom. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Matthew II. 1, 2
If thou also weep thus, thou art become a follower of thy Lord. Yea, for He also wept, both over Lazarus, and over the city; and touching Judas He was greatly troubled. And this indeed one may often see Him do, but nowhere laugh, nay, nor smile but a little; no one at least of the evangelists hath mentioned this. Therefore also with regard to Paul, that he wept, that he did so three years night and day,both he hath said of himself, and others say this of him; but that he laughed, neither hath he said himself anywhere, neither hath so much as one other of the saints, either concerning him, or any other like him; but this is said of Sarah only,when she is blamed, and of the son of Noe, when for a freeman he became a slave.
St Hilary of Poitiers De Trinitate or On the Trinity, Book IV
28. Lest you fall into the error of supposing that this acknowledgment of the One was a payment of honor to all the three whom Abraham saw in company, mark the words of Lot when he saw the two who had departed; And when Lot saw them, he rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; and he said, Behold, my lords, turn in to your servant’s house . Here the plural lords shews that this was nothing more than a vision of angels; in the other case the faithful patriarch pays the honour due to One only. Thus the sacred narrative makes it clear that two of the three were mere angels; it had previously proclaimed the One as Lord and God by the words, And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I then bear a child? But I am grown old. …