Bible Strands
Genesis 18:12
So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Sarah speaks internally to herself after the Lord’s promise of a son, occurring while Abraham and the visitors are present following the announcement in Genesis 18:10.
The words — וַ/תִּצְחַ֥ק (va./titz.Chak) = "and she laughed"; בְּ/קִרְבָּ֣/הּ (be./kir.Ba/h) = "in her inner being/to herself".
The thread — The motif of laughing at divine promises recurs in Abraham’s response in Genesis 17:17, Sarah’s obedience is later cited in 1 Peter 3:6, and the same pattern of aged doubt appears with Zechariah in Luke 1:18.
Why it lands — The text records a human calculation of biological limits meeting a divine declaration, requiring the reader to confront where personal experience must yield to promised word.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
Cross-references
- Genesis 17:17 Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?”
- 1 Peter 3:6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. And you are her children if you do what is right and refuse to give way to fear.
- Luke 1:18 “How can I be sure of this?” Zechariah asked the angel. “I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.”
- Genesis 18:13 And the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really bear a child when I am old?’
- Genesis 21:6 Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”
- Luke 1:34 “How can this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
- Psalms 126:2 Then our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with shouts of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
- Ephesians 5:33 Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
- Hebrews 11:11 By faith Sarah, even though she was barren and beyond the proper age, was enabled to conceive a child, because she considered Him faithful who had promised.