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Genesis 21:1–7, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Genesis 21:1–7
Isaac Is Born as God Promised
The LORD does what was said
The LORD attends to Sarah as he had spoken. She conceives and bears Isaac at the appointed time. Abraham names him and circumcises him on the eighth day. Sarah turns earlier laughter into astonishment that she has borne and can nurse a son in old age.
The birth stands after Genesis 20's explicit non-contact, so Isaac's paternity is not left to Abimelech. This singular promise is not a general guarantee of pregnancy to every waiting person.
How this should shape us
Measure God's faithfulness by what was actually promised. Celebrate another person's joy without making fertility the measure of worth, and keep modern bodily decisions inside ethical and medical care.
Teach it back
Explain how Genesis 21:1–7 fulfills the earlier Isaac promises. Include Sarah, Abraham, the appointed time, the name, circumcision, age, and laughter. Then explain why 'visited' does not imply sexual divine paternity and why this birth is not a universal fertility guarantee.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Best judgment:
How certain? very strongBest judgment:
How certain? very strongBest judgment:
How certain? probableBest judgment:
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Displayed wording, promise fulfillment, parentage, timing, naming, circumcision, ages, laughter, nursing, and canonical reception.
Genesis 21:1–7 in the pinned eng-kjv2006 source; compared with Genesis 17:12, 15–21; 18:9–15; 20:1–18; 21:8–21; Romans 4; Galatians 4; Hebrews 11
Supports: Parallel fulfillment clauses, conception and birth, appointed time, Isaac name, circumcision, laughter wordplay, preposition ambiguity, Sarah's exclamation, and nursing idiom.
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 21:1–7; lemmas and morphology for paqad, amar, davar, ya'as, harah, yalad, mo'ed, yitschaq, mul, tsechoq, shama, and yanaq
Supports: Promise-fulfillment syntax, appointed-time echo, Isaac and laughter wordplay, supplied translation wording, and Sarah's astonished speech.
NET Bible, Genesis 21:1–7 and translator notes, especially 21:1–2 and 21:6–7
Supports: Final-form placement, promise-to-birth movement, Abraham-cycle continuity, and the transition into Hagar and Ishmael's expulsion.
Genesis commentary, discussion of Genesis 18:16–21:7
Supports: Critical and ethical context for Hagar, Ishmael, Isaac, promise, and later canonical reception; no passage-specific claim attributed beyond inspected scope.
Genesis 16 and 22: Abraham and Isaac study guide and course context for the Abraham cycle
Supports: Literary placement and commentary navigation only.
Genesis, official Cambridge contents and introduction; commentary locator for Genesis 21:1–21
Supports: Context-dependent laughter, Isaac name wordplay, incredulity, and the movement toward rejoicing.
In die Skriflig 48.2, sections treating the laughter root in Genesis 17–21
Supports: Sarah-centered promise fulfillment, Abraham-Sarah laughter comparison, Sarah's gratitude, and caution over inferred awareness and motive.
TheTorah.com, 'Sarah, Afraid of Abraham, Denies Laughing,' sections 'Abraham Also Laughed' and conclusion through Genesis 21:1–6
Supports: Sarah as the centered recipient, compact conception-and-birth report, Abraham paternity after Abimelech, maternal speech, nursing, and gender-aware narrative emphasis.
The Torah: A Women's Commentary, Genesis 21:1–7, unit 'Sarah Becomes a Mother'
Supports: Paqad semantic range, promise parallelism, later divine-conception reception, and the author's explicit acknowledgment that biblical paqad is not used as a sexual euphemism here; the proposed conception reading is retained as a minority alternative rather than adopted.
TheTorah.com, 'Isaac's Divine Conception?', especially sections 'And YHWH Pakad-ed Sarah,' 'Divine Conceptions,' and notes 7–8
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Displayed wording, promise fulfillment, parentage, timing, naming, circumcision, ages, laughter, nursing, and canonical reception.
Exact location: Genesis 21:1–7 in the pinned eng-kjv2006 source; compared with Genesis 17:12, 15–21; 18:9–15; 20:1–18; 21:8–21; Romans 4; Galatians 4; Hebrews 11
Open source ↗hebrew text morphology and lemma data
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, Version 2.2 released 2021; repository inspected 2026
Supports: Parallel fulfillment clauses, conception and birth, appointed time, Isaac name, circumcision, laughter wordplay, preposition ambiguity, Sarah's exclamation, and nursing idiom.
Exact location: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 21:1–7; lemmas and morphology for paqad, amar, davar, ya'as, harah, yalad, mo'ed, yitschaq, mul, tsechoq, shama, and yanaq
Open source ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, Digital edition accessed 2026
Supports: Promise-fulfillment syntax, appointed-time echo, Isaac and laughter wordplay, supplied translation wording, and Sarah's astonished speech.
Exact location: NET Bible, Genesis 21:1–7 and translator notes, especially 21:1–2 and 21:6–7
Open NET Genesis 21 ↗modern open whole book commentary
Genesis
T. Desmond Alexander
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: Final-form placement, promise-to-birth movement, Abraham-cycle continuity, and the transition into Hagar and Ishmael's expulsion.
Exact location: Genesis commentary, discussion of Genesis 18:16–21:7
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Genesis 16 and 22: Abraham and Isaac — Study Guide
Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2021 course; page inspected 2026
Supports: Critical and ethical context for Hagar, Ishmael, Isaac, promise, and later canonical reception; no passage-specific claim attributed beyond inspected scope.
Exact location: Genesis 16 and 22: Abraham and Isaac study guide and course context for the Abraham cycle
Open source ↗modern scholarly commentary publisher material
Genesis
Bill T. Arnold
Cambridge University Press, 2009
Supports: Literary placement and commentary navigation only.
Exact location: Genesis, official Cambridge contents and introduction; commentary locator for Genesis 21:1–21
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access Hebrew semantics and literary study
Laughter in the Old Testament: A hotchpotch of humour, mockery and rejoicing?
Hennie A. J. Kruger
In die Skriflig 48.2, 2014
Supports: Context-dependent laughter, Isaac name wordplay, incredulity, and the movement toward rejoicing.
Exact location: In die Skriflig 48.2, sections treating the laughter root in Genesis 17–21
Open source ↗current Jewish feminist narrative study
Sarah, Afraid of Abraham, Denies Laughing
Tammi J. Schneider
TheTorah.com, 2021
Supports: Sarah-centered promise fulfillment, Abraham-Sarah laughter comparison, Sarah's gratitude, and caution over inferred awareness and motive.
Exact location: TheTorah.com, 'Sarah, Afraid of Abraham, Denies Laughing,' sections 'Abraham Also Laughed' and conclusion through Genesis 21:1–6
Open source ↗modern Jewish feminist commentary and text study
The Torah: A Women's Commentary — Genesis 21: Sarah Becomes a Mother
Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Andrea L. Weiss, editors
URJ Press / Sefaria electronic edition, 2008
Supports: Sarah as the centered recipient, compact conception-and-birth report, Abraham paternity after Abimelech, maternal speech, nursing, and gender-aware narrative emphasis.
Exact location: The Torah: A Women's Commentary, Genesis 21:1–7, unit 'Sarah Becomes a Mother'
Open source ↗current Jewish Hebrew semantics and reception history study
Isaac's Divine Conception?
Samuel Z. Glaser
TheTorah.com, 2018; revised 2026
Supports: Paqad semantic range, promise parallelism, later divine-conception reception, and the author's explicit acknowledgment that biblical paqad is not used as a sexual euphemism here; the proposed conception reading is retained as a minority alternative rather than adopted.
Exact location: TheTorah.com, 'Isaac's Divine Conception?', especially sections 'And YHWH Pakad-ed Sarah,' 'Divine Conceptions,' and notes 7–8
Open source ↗