The Three Visitors

18 Later, the Lord again appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre. At that time Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent. It was during the hottest part of the day. ² He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When Abraham saw them, he ran from his tent to meet them. He bowed facedown on the ground before them. ³ Abraham said, “Sir, if you think well of me, please stay awhile with me, your servant. ⁴ I will bring some water so all of you can wash your feet. You may rest under the tree. ⁵ I will get some bread for you, so you can regain your strength. Then you may continue your journey.”

The three men said, “That is fine. Do as you said.”

⁶ Abraham hurried to the tent where Sarah was. He said to her, “Hurry, prepare 20 quarts of fine flour. Make it into loaves of bread.” ⁷ Then Abraham ran to his cattle. He took one of his best calves and gave it to a servant. The servant hurried to kill the calf and to prepare it for food. ⁸ Abraham gave the three men the calf that had been cooked. He also gave them milk curds and milk. While the three men ate, he stood under the tree near them.

⁹ The men asked Abraham, “Where is your wife Sarah?”

“There, in the tent,” said Abraham.

¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “I will certainly return to you about this time a year from now. At that time your wife Sarah will have a son.”

Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent which was behind him. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were very old. Sarah was past the age when women normally have children. ¹² So she laughed to herself, “My husband and I are too old to have a baby.”

¹³ Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘I am too old to have a baby’? ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? No! I will return to you at the right time a year from now. And Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ Sarah was afraid. So she lied and said, “I didn’t laugh.”

But the Lord said, “No. You did laugh.”

A Baby for Sarah

21 The Lord cared for Sarah as he had said. He did for her what he had promised. ² Sarah became pregnant. And she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. Everything happened at the time God had said it would. ³ Abraham named his son Isaac. Sarah gave birth to this son of Abraham. ⁴ Abraham circumcised Isaac when he was eight days old as God had commanded.

⁵ Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born. ⁶ And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh.^[a] Everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. ⁷ No one thought that I would be able to have Abraham’s child. But I have given Abraham a son while he is old.”