Genesis 21:1-7

The Birth of Isaac

1 Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.

2 So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised.

3 And Abraham gave the name Isaac ^[a] to the son Sarah bore to him.

4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.

5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

6 Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”

7 She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Genesis 21:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 21

This chapter gives an account of the conception, birth, circumcision, and weaning of Isaac, Ge 21:1-8; of the mocking of Ishmael, and of the casting out of him and his mother from Abraham's house, at the request of Sarah, which, though grievous to Abraham, he complied with at the direction of God, Ge 21:9-13; of the provision Abraham made for their departure, and of the supply they met with in the wilderness from God, where Ishmael was brought up, and where he married, Ge 21:14-21; and of a covenant between Abraham and Abimelech, king of Gerar, Ge 21:22-32; and of Abraham's planting a grove, and calling on the name of the Lord, Ge 21:33; and the chapter is closed with this observation, that Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days, Ge 21:34.

Footnotes

• [a] Isaac means he laughs.