¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were already very old,^(A) and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.^(B)

¹⁷ Abraham fell facedown;^(A) he laughed^(B) and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old?^(C) Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”^(D)

¹¹ And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age,^(A) was enabled to bear children^(B) because she^[a] considered him faithful^(C) who had made the promise. ¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead,^(D) came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.^(E)

¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations,^(A) just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”^{[a](B) 19} Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead^(C)—since he was about a hundred years old^(D)—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.^{(E) 20} Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened^(F) in his faith and gave glory to God,^{(G) 21} being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.^(H)

¹⁹ Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead,^(A) and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child^(A) in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.

¹⁸ Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this?^(A) I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”^(B)

⁷ But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

¹⁹ “‘When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period^(A) will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.