¹⁹ Then God said: “No, ^(A)Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My ^(B)covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.

¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and ^(A)you shall call his name John. ¹⁴ And you will have joy and gladness, and ^(B)many will rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵ For he will be ^(C)great in the sight of the Lord, and ^(D)shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, ^(E)even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. ^17 (F)He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸ And Zacharias said to the angel, ^(G)“How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”

¹⁹ And the angel answered and said to him, “I am ^(H)Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you ^[a]these glad ^(I)tidings. ²⁰ But behold, ^(J)you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.”

²⁸ Now ^(A)we, brethren, as Isaac was, are ^(B)children of promise. ²⁹ But, as ^(C)he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, ^(D)even so it is now. ³⁰ Nevertheless what does ^(E)the Scripture say? ^(F)“Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for ^(G)the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” ³¹ So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

Israel’s Rejection and God’s Purpose^(A)

^6 (B)But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For ^(C)they are not all Israel who are of Israel, ^7 (D)nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ^(E)“In Isaac your seed shall be called.” ⁸ That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but ^(F)the children of the promise are counted as the seed. ⁹ For this is the word of promise: ^(G)“At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”

⁶ And Sarah said, ^(A)“God has ^[a]made me laugh, and all who hear ^(B)will laugh with me.”

² For Sarah ^(A)conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, ^(B)at the set time of which God had spoken to him. ³ And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—^(C)Isaac.^[a]

¹⁶ Then he said, ^[a]“About this time next year you shall embrace a son.”

And she said, “No, my lord. Man of God, ^(A)do not lie to your maidservant!”

¹⁷ But the woman conceived, and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her.

^3 (A)Dwell in this land, and ^(B)I will be with you and ^(C)bless you; for to you and your descendants ^(D)I give all these lands, and I will perform ^(E)the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.

¹⁰ And He said, “I will certainly return to you ^(A)according to the time of life, and behold, ^(B)Sarah your wife shall have a son.”

(Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) ¹¹ Now ^(C)Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and ^[a]Sarah ^(D)had passed the age of childbearing. ¹² Therefore Sarah ^(E)laughed within herself, saying, ^(F)“After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my ^(G)lord being old also?”

¹³ And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ ^14 (H)Is anything too hard for the Lord? ^(I)At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”