Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed for doing comparisons of different translations. Click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.
Key: khaki:verbs.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).
BrLXXἉβραὰμ δὲ καὶ Σάῤῥα πρεσβύτεροι προβεβηκότες ἡμερῶν· ἐξέλιπε δὲ τῇ Σάῤῥᾳ γίνεσθαι τὰ γυναικεια. (Habraʼam de kai Saɽɽa presbuteroi probebaʸkotes haʸmerōn; exelipe de taʸ Saɽɽa ginesthai ta gunaikeia. )
BrTrAnd Abraam and Sarrha were old, advanced in days, and the custom of women ceased with Sarrha.
ULTNow Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in days; the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.
USTShe and Abraham were already very old, so that Sarah was far past the age that she could have children.
BSBAnd Abraham and Sarah were already old and well along in years; Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
JPSNow Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. —
ASVNow Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
DRANow they were both old, and far advanced in years, and it had ceased to be with Sara after the manner of women.
YLTAnd Sarah is hearkening at the opening of the tent, which is behind him;
DrbyNow Abraham and Sarah were old [and] advanced in age: it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
RVNow Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
WbstrNow Abraham and Sarah were old and far advanced in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
KJB-1769Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
KJB-1611Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age: and it ceased to be with Sarah after the maner of women. (Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation)
BshpsAbraham and Sara were both olde, and well stryken in age: and it ceassed to be with Sara after the maner as it is with women. (Abraham and Sara were both old, and well stryken in age: and it ceased to be with Sara after the manner as it is with women.)
Gnva(Nowe Abraham and Sarah were old and striken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the maner of women) ((Now Abraham and Sarah were old and stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women) )
CvdlAnd Abraham and Sara were both olde, & well stryken in age: so that it wente nomore with Sara after ye maner of wemen: (And Abraham and Sara were both old, and well stryken in age: so that it went no more with Sara after ye/you_all manner of women:)
WyclForsothe bothe weren olde, and of greet age, and wommans termes ceessiden to be maad to Sare. (Forsothe both were old, and of great age, and womans termes ceasedn to be made to Sare.)
LuthUnd sie waren beide, Abraham und Sara, alt und wohl betagt, also daß es Sara nicht mehr ging nach der Weiber Weise. (And they/she/them were beide, Abraham and Sara, old and probably betagt, also that it Sara not more went after the/of_the women Weise.)
ClVgErant autem ambo senes, provectæque ætatis, et desierant Saræ fieri muliebria.[fn] (Erant however ambo senes, provectæque ætatis, and desierant Saræ to_be_done muliebria. )
18.11Erant autem, etc. Seniorum ætas minor est quam senum, etsi senes appellentur seniores. Unde, secundum medicos, senior vir de muliere seniore filios facere non potest, etiamsi adhuc muliebria fluant. Secundum hoc Abraham miratur Dei potentiam de promissione filii, et hoc miraculum posuisse Apostolum accipere possumus. Emortuum enim corpus non omnino ad generationem erat, si mulier juvenilis ætatis fuisset: sed de provecta ætate generare non poterat: de Cethura enim postea generavit, quia juvencula fuit. Tradunt enim medici quia senex de femina provectioris ætatis etsi muliebria contingant ei generare non possit, de juvencula autem possit. Rursus mulier provectæ ætatis, etsi adhuc muliebria contingant ei, de seniore parere non potest, de juvene potest. Miraculum ergo fuit, quia uterque senex et provectæ ætatis, et desierant muliebria Saræ.
18.11Erant however, etc. Seniorum ætas minor it_is how senum, etsi senes appellentur seniores. Unde, after/second medicos, senior man about muliere seniore filios facere not/no potest, etiamsi adhuc muliebria fluant. After/Second this Abraham miratur of_God potentiam about promissione children, and this miraculum posuisse Apostolum accipere possumus. Emortuum because body not/no omnino to generationem was, when/but_if mulier yuvenilis ætatis fuisset: but about provecta ætate generare not/no poterat: about Cethura because postea generavit, because yuvencula fuit. Tradunt because medici because senex about femina provectioris ætatis etsi muliebria contingant to_him generare not/no possit, about yuvencula however possit. Rursus mulier provectæ ætatis, etsi adhuc muliebria contingant ei, about seniore parere not/no potest, about yuvene potest. Miraculum therefore fuit, because uterque senex and provectæ ætatis, and desierant muliebria Saræ.
18:1-15 The Lord’s visit to Abraham set the time for Isaac’s birth. The three visitors were probably the Lord and two angels (see study note on 16:7). Abraham’s peaceful and generous reception of the visitors contrasts sharply with the chaos and corruption of Sodom (ch 19). Eating together was important in making or confirming covenants; when God was ready to fulfill the covenant promise, he came in person to share a meal with Abraham. Fellowship with God has always been signified by a communal meal (see Exod 24:9-11; Matt 26:17-30//Luke 22:7-38; Acts 2:42; 1 Cor 11:20-34).
This verse gives background information that is important to what happens next. Some languages use a conjunction such as Now here to introduce this kind of information, while other languages omit the conjunction, especially if Now is used to begin the last sentence in verse 10. Do what is best in your language. Alternate translation: “Abraham and she” or “Sarah and Abraham”
זְקֵנִ֔ים בָּאִ֖ים בַּיָּמִ֑ים
old advanced in_the=days
Alternate translation: “were already quite old” or “were very elderly”
The Hebrew text has an idiom here that is a polite way of saying that Sarah had reached menopause and so was not able to have children. Other languages may have a similar idiom. Make sure your translation of this clause will not offend or embarrass people when it is read aloud in public. Alternate translation: “so that she was much older than the normal age for bearing children.” or “so that she was far past the time that she could bear children.”
Author’s note: This article assumes that Sodom, Gomorrah, and Bela (Zoar) were located at Bab edh-Dhra, Numeira, and Khirbat ash-Sheikh `Isa, respectively. The exact locations of the cities of the plain are widely debated, with the primary dispute centering around whether the cities are to be found in the northern area of the Dead Sea (since Lot headed east from Bethel [Genesis 13]) or the southern area (as the Medeba Map shows). It is beyond the scope of this article to present all the evidence to support a southern location, but many of them are well summarized here: “The Discovery of the Sin Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.” In addition, Eusebius in his Onomasticon describes the Dead Sea as lying between Jericho and Zoar. This author has also recently found that Eusebius notes that Nebereim (Nimrim; see Isaiah 15:6 and Jeremiah 48:34) is located at a village called Bennamareim (likely the site of Gomorrah on this map), which he also says is north of Zoar. Thus, if Eusebius is correct, Zoar is clearly located in the southern area of the Dead Sea, which fits very well with the location shown on this map. Also, Lot’s relocation to Sodom after moving east to the plain of the Jordan suggests that Sodom was located on the east side of the Dead Sea.
The famous cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are first mentioned in Genesis 10:19 in a description of the territory of the Canaanites. The cities are mentioned again in chapter 13, which notes that while Abraham (then called Abram) was living near Bethel (also called Luz), tension began to grow between Abraham’s herders and the herders working for Abraham’s nephew Lot. To resolve the problem, Abraham suggested that he and Lot permanently part ways, and he offered Lot first choice of where to live. Lot chose to move east to the plain of the Jordan, because the land was well watered, and he eventually settled in the city of Sodom. Genesis 14 then describes how Lot was captured by four Mesopotamian kings as they attacked the cities of the plain, but Abraham rescued Lot. Sometime after this Abraham moved to the oaks of Mamre, near Hebron, and three visitors (one of whom is later called “the Lord,” and the other two “angels”) approached his tent. Abraham invited them to share a meal with him and then later accompanied them for the first part of their journey. Along the way the visitors revealed to Abraham that they were going to Sodom to destroy it for its wickedness. Abraham appealed to the Lord to spare the city if even a few righteous lived there, and the Lord agreed and went his way. The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening (Genesis 19:1), presumably the same day they left, although perhaps they actually took more than one day to travel to Sodom, because the distance from Mamre to Sodom is over 35 miles (56 km), and Scripture does not specifically note that it was the same day. The events that followed that evening are well known, and in the morning the angels compelled Lot and his family to flee the city before it was destroyed. The angels instructed them to flee to the hills, but Lot convinced them to allow him to take refuge in a small village on the plain and not destroy it. Genesis 19:23 seems to suggest that it took Lot’s family a full day and night to reach Zoar, which fits well with the 16 mile (25 km) distance from Sodom to Zoar. As they were reaching Zoar, the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur on Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, completely destroying them. As Lot’s family was still fleeing, Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. That same morning Abraham got up and went to where he had last spoken with the visitors, and when he looked out across the plain he saw columns of smoke rising from the destroyed cities. Later Lot and his daughters moved into the hills and lived in a cave, because they were afraid to remain in Zoar. Fearing they would never marry, Lot’s daughters both got their father drunk and conceived children by him, though he was unaware of it. These children became ancestors of the Moabites and the Ammonites.
