Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible. This view is only designed for doing comparisons of different translations. Click on any Bible version abbreviation 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.
BSB § And the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really bear a child when I am old?’
OEB But the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, saying, “Will I, indeed, even when I am old give birth to a child?”
WEB Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child when I am old?’
WMB The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child when I am old?’
NET The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child when I am old?’
LSV And YHWH says to Abraham, “Why [is] this? Sarah has laughed, saying, Is it really true—I bear—and I am aged?
FBV The Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and ask, ‘How could it possibly be true that I'll have a child now I'm so old?’
T4T Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why was she thinking, ‘I am too old, so how can I bear a child?’
LEB Then Yahweh said to Abraham, “What is this that Sarah laughed, saying, ‘Is it indeed true that I will bear a child, now that I have grown old?’
BBE And the Lord said, Why was Sarah laughing and saying, Is it possible for me, being old, to give birth to a child?
Moff No Moff GEN book available
JPS And the LORD said unto Abraham: 'Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying: Shall I of a surety bear a child, who am old?
ASV And Jehovah said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, who am old?
DRA And the Lord said to Abraham: Why did Sara laugh, saying: Shall I who am an old woman bear a child indeed?
YLT and Sarah laugheth in her heart, saying, 'After I have waxed old I have had pleasure! — my lord also [is] old!'
Drby And Jehovah said to Abraham, Why is this, that Sarah laughs, saying, Shall I indeed bear, when I am become old?
RV And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
Wbstr And the LORD said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I certainly bear a child, who am old?
KJB-1769 And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
KJB-1611 And the LORD said vnto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying; Shall I of a surety beare a childe, which am old?
(Modernised spelling is same as used by KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation)
Bshps And God said vnto Abraham: wherfore dyd Sara laugh, saying, shall I of a suertie beare a chylde, which am olde?
(And God said unto Abraham: wherfore did Sara laugh, saying, shall I of a suertie bear a child, which am olde?)
Gnva And ye Lord saide vnto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah thus laugh, saying, Shall I certainely beare a childe, which am olde?
(And ye/you_all Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah thus laugh, saying, Shall I certainly bear a child, which am olde?)
Cvdl Then sayde ye LORDE vnto Abraham: Wherfore doth Sara laugh, and saye: Is this true in dede, that I shal beare, and yet am olde?
(Then said ye/you_all LORD unto Abraham: Wherefore doth Sara laugh, and say: Is this true in dede, that I shall beare, and yet am olde?)
Wyc Forsothe the Lord seide to Abraham, Whi leiyeth Sare, thi wijf, seiynge, whether Y an eld womman schal bere child verili?
(Forsothe the Lord said to Abraham, Whi leiyeth Sare, thy/your wife, seiynge, whether I an old woman shall bear child verili?)
Luth Da sprach der HErr zu Abraham: Warum lachet des Sara und spricht: Meinest du, daß wahr sei, daß ich noch gebären werde, so ich doch alt bin?
(So spoke the/of_the LORD to Abraham: Warum lachet the Sara and spricht: Mine you, that wahr sei, that I still gebären become, so I though/but old bin?)
ClVg Dixit autem Dominus ad Abraham: Quare risit Sara, dicens: Num vere paritura sum anus?
(Dixit however Master to Abraham: Quare risit Sara, dicens: Num vere paritura I_am anus?)
BrTr And the Lord said to Abraam, Why is it that Sarrha has laughed in herself, saying, Shall I then indeed bear? but I am grown old.
BrLXX Καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρὸς Ἁβραὰμ, τί ὅτι ἐγέλασε Σάῤῥα ἐν ἑαυτῇ, λέγουσα, ἆρά γε ἀληθῶς τέξομαι; ἐγὼ δὲ γεγήρακα.
(Kai eipe Kurios pros Habraʼam, ti hoti egelase Saɽɽa en heautaʸ, legousa, ara ge alaʸthōs texomai; egō de gegaʸraka.)
UTN uW Translation Notes:
Note 1 topic: writing-quotations
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר יְהוָ֖ה אֶל אַבְרָהָ֑ם
and=he/it_said YHWH to/towards ʼAⱱrāhām
The way you translate this quote margin will depend on whether you translate the rest of this verse as a rhetorical question or a statement. Alternate translation: “Then Yahweh asked Abraham,”
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion
לָ֣מָּה זֶּה֩ צָחֲקָ֨ה שָׂרָ֜ה לֵאמֹ֗ר
to/for=what this laugh Sārāh to=say
Yahweh uses rhetorical question in verses 13-14 to confront Sarah’s disbelief and to emphasize that nothing is too difficult for God to do. Consider whether or not it is best to use rhetorical questions here in your language. Alternate translation: “Why did Sarah laugh to herself and say” or “Sarah should not have laughed and thought to herself,” or “Sarah should not have laughed, thinking,”
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / quotesinquotes
הַאַ֥ף אֻמְנָ֛ם אֵלֵ֖ד וַאֲנִ֥י זָקַֽנְתִּי
?,indeed indeed bear_a_child and,I old
Consider whether it is more natural in your language to make this embedded quote a direct or indirect quote. Make sure that your translation of I refers here to Sarah, not Yahweh. Alternate translation: “I am too old to bear a child!”
BMM BibleMapper.com Maps:
Sodom and Gomorrah Are Destroyed
Genesis 18-19
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.