¹ tn Grk “as Sarah obeyed.”

⁴ tn Heb “after his mother.” This must refer to Sarah’s death.

⁵ tn This is the first of two disjunctive parenthetical clauses preparing the reader for Sarah’s response (see v. 12).

¹ tn Heb “And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years, the years of the life of Sarah.”

³ sn The “rock” and “quarry” refer here to Abraham and Sarah, the progenitors of the nation.

¹ sn Rebekah, unlike Sarah, was not actually her husband’s sister.

² tn Heb “it had ceased to be for Sarah [after] a way like women.”

⁴ tn Heb “and there will be (הִנֵּה, hinneh) a son for Sarah.”

¹ tn Heb “drive out.” The language may seem severe, but Sarah’s maternal instincts sensed a real danger in that Ishmael was not treating Isaac with the proper respect.

¹ tn Heb “Sarah.” The proper name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“she”) for stylistic reasons.

¹ tn Heb “[As for] Sarai your wife, you must not call her name Sarai, for Sarah [will be] her name.”

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.

¹ sn Although Abraham and Sarah are distant ancestors of the people the prophet is addressing, they are spoken of as the immediate parents.

¹ sn The cave of Machpelah was the place Abraham had purchased as a burial place for his wife Sarah (Gen 23:17-18).

¹ tn Heb “Why, this?” The demonstrative pronoun following the interrogative pronoun is enclitic, emphasizing the Lord’s amazement: “Why on earth did Sarah laugh?”

² tn Grk “power to deposit seed.” Though it is not as likely, some construe this phrase to mean “power to conceive seed,” making the whole verse about Sarah: “by faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and too old, she received ability to conceive because she regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy.”

² sn Mourn…weep. The description here is of standard mourning rites (see K. A. Kitchen, NBD³ 149-50). They would have been carried out in the presence of the corpse, probably in Sarah’s tent. So Abraham came in to mourn; then he rose up to go and bury his dead (v. 3).

¹ tn Heb “and the word was very wrong in the eyes of Abraham on account of his son.” The verb רָעַע (raʿaʿ) often refers to what is morally or ethically “evil.” It usage here suggests that Abraham thought Sarah’s demand was ethically (and perhaps legally) wrong.

¹ tn Heb “the one born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.” The two modifying clauses, the first introduced with an article and the second with the relative pronoun, are placed in the middle of the sentence, before the name Isaac is stated. They are meant to underscore that this was indeed an actual birth to Abraham and Sarah in fulfillment of the promise.

³ sn Sarah’s words play on the name “Isaac” in a final triumphant manner. God prepared “laughter” (צְחֹק, ts^ekhoq) for her, and everyone who hears about this “will laugh” (יִצְחַק, yitskhaq) with her. The laughter now signals great joy and fulfillment, not unbelief (cf. Gen 18:12-15).