Back to Genesis 18

Genesis 18:11

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

  • KJV King James Version

    Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. —

View more translations →

Examined in Scripture Analysis

Contradictions (1)

Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.

Explore Contradictions →

Cross-references (10)

Passages linked to Genesis 18:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Genesis 17:17 Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?”
  • Hebrews 11:11-12 By faith, even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised. Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead.
  • Luke 1:36 Behold, Elizabeth your relative also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
  • Romans 4:18-21 Besides hope, Abraham in hope believed, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your offspring be.” Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.
  • Genesis 17:24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
  • Leviticus 15:19 “ ‘If a woman has a discharge, and her discharge in her flesh is blood, she shall be in her impurity seven days. Whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening.
  • Luke 1:7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years.
  • Luke 1:18 Zacharias said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”
  • Hebrews 11:19 concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.
  • Genesis 31:35 She said to her father, “Don’t let my lord be angry that I can’t rise up before you; for I’m having my period.” He searched, but didn’t find the teraphim.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

↑ Top

Explain this verse (8 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 11. Were old, and well stricken in age Moses…

11. Were old, and well stricken in age Moses inserts this verse to inform us that what the angel was saying, justly appeared improbable to Sarah. For it is contrary to nature that children should be promised to decrepit old men. A doubt, however, may be entertained on this point, respecting Abraham: because men are sometimes endued with strength to have children, even in extreme old age: and especially in that period, such an occurrence was not uncommon. But Moses here speaks comparatively: for since Abraham, during the vigor of his life, had remained with his wife childless; it was scarcely possible for him, now that his body was half dead, to have children; he had indeed begotten Ishmael in his old age, which was contrary to expectation. But that now, twelve years afterwards, it should be possible to become a father, through his aged wife, was scarcely credible. Moses however chiefly insists upon the case of Sarah; because the greatest impediment was with her. It ceased, he says, to be with Sarah after the manner of women. With this expression, he soberly speaks about the monthly stream of the women. At the same moment with this, the possibility of conceiving ceases.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 18:11 Now Abraham and Sarah [were] old [and]…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain As to those monthly effluviums peculiar to her sex,…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. It ceased to be with Sarah after…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. well stricken in age] An Old English expression…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken…
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 After I am worn-out and my master is old,…

↑ Top

Share