Genesis 18:1

Three Special Visitors

18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest time of the day.

Genesis 18:13-14

18:13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child when I am old?’ 18:14 Is anything impossible for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.”

Genesis 18:33

18:33 The Lord went on his way when he had finished speaking 10  to Abraham. Then Abraham returned home. 11 


tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tn Or “terebinths.”

tn The disjunctive clause here is circumstantial to the main clause.

tn The Hebrew noun translated “entrance” is an adverbial accusative of place.

tn Heb “Why, this?” The demonstrative pronoun following the interrogative pronoun is enclitic, emphasizing the Lord’s amazement: “Why on earth did Sarah laugh?”

tn The Hebrew construction uses both הַאַף (haaf) and אֻמְנָם (’umnam): “Indeed, truly, will I have a child?”

tn The Hebrew verb פָּלָא (pala’) means “to be wonderful, to be extraordinary, to be surpassing, to be amazing.”

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 Lord fixed an exact date for the birth of the child, the promise became rather overwhelming to Abraham and Sarah. But then this was the Lord of creation, the one they had come to trust. The point of these narratives is that the creation of Abraham’s offspring, which eventually became Israel, is no less a miraculous work of creation than the creation of the world itself.

tn Heb “And the Lord went.”

10 tn The infinitive construct (“speaking”) serves as the direct object of the verb “finished.”

11 tn Heb “to his place.”