¹⁹ God said, “No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac.^[a] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.^(A)

¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.^{(A) 14} You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,^{(B) 15} for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.^{(C) 16} He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.^{(D) 17} With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”^{(E) 18} Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know that this will happen? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.”^{(F) 19} The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.^{(G) 20} But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”^(H)

²⁸ Now you,^[a] my brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, like Isaac. ²⁹ But just as at that time the child who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.^{(A) 30} But what does the scripture say? “Drive out the enslaved woman and her child, for the child of the enslaved woman will not share the inheritance with the child of the free woman.”^{(B) 31} So then, brothers and sisters, we are children, not of an enslaved woman but of the free woman.

⁶ It is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all those descended from Israel are Israelites,^{(A) 7} and not all of Abraham’s children are his descendants, but “it is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.”^{(B) 8} This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants. ⁹ For the word of the promise is this: “About this time I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”^(C)

⁶ Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.”^(A)

² Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him.^{(A) 3} Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him.^(B)

¹⁶ He said, “At this season, in due time, you shall embrace a son.” She replied, “No, my lord, O man of God; do not deceive your servant.”^(A)

¹⁷ The woman conceived and bore a son at that season, in due time, as Elisha had declared to her.

¹⁰ Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him.^{(A) 11} Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.^{(B) 12} So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I be fruitful?”^{(C) 13} The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.”^(D)

³ Reside in this land as an alien, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will fulfill the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.^(A)