Genesis 17:15

15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai, for her name is to be Sarah. ^[a]

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 Whether they are born in your household or purchased, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh will be an everlasting covenant.

14 But if any male is not circumcised, he will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai, for her name is to be Sarah.

16 And I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will descend from her.”

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?”

Footnotes

• [a]. Both Sarai and Sarah mean princess; the change in spelling may reflect the difference in dialect between Ur and Canaan.