Genesis 17:15

15 Also God said to Abraham (And God said Abraham), Thou shalt not call Sarai, thy wife, Sarai, but Sarah;

Genesis 17:15 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 17:15

And God said unto Abraham
After he had changed his name, and given him the covenant of circumcision:

as for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah
her name [shall be];
her former name Sarai signifies "my princess", or rather "princesses", being to him in the room of many, and better than ten thousand; yet only a princess to him, and in his family, being sole mistress there: but Sarah signifies, as Jarchi observes, "princess" absolutely, because she was princess over all the princes and people that should come of her, as well as be the mother and princess of all female believers, who are called her daughters, ( 1 Peter 3:6 ) .

Genesis 17:15 In-Context

13 and whoever is of your kindred, he (also) shall be circumcised; and my covenant shall be in your flesh into everlasting bond of peace (and so my covenant shall be made in your flesh as an everlasting covenant).
14 A(ny) man whose flesh of his rod shall not be circumcised, that man shall be done away from his people; for he made void my covenant (for he hath broken my covenant).
15 Also God said to Abraham (And God said Abraham), Thou shalt not call Sarai, thy wife, Sarai, but Sarah;
16 and I shall bless her, and of her I shall give to thee a son, whom I shall bless, and he shall be into nations, and kings of peoples shall be born of him. (and I shall bless her, and I shall give thee a son by her; yea, I shall bless her, and she shall be the mother of nations, and kings of many people shall be born from her.)
17 Abraham felled down on his face, and laughed in his heart, and said, Guessest thou, whether a child shall be born to a man of an hundred years, and Sarah of ninety years shall bear a child? (And Abraham fell down on his face, and laughed in his heart, and said, Thinkest thou, that a child shall be born to a man who is a hundred years old, and that Sarah, who is ninety years old, shall yet bear a child?)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.