Genesis 18:1-15

Living Bible

18 The Lord appeared again to Abraham while he was living in the oak grove at Mamre. This is the way it happened: One hot summer afternoon as he was sitting in the opening of his tent, ² he suddenly noticed three men coming toward him. He sprang up and ran to meet them and welcomed them.

^3-4 “Sirs,” he said, “please don’t go any farther. Stop awhile and rest here in the shade of this tree while I get water to refresh your feet, ⁵ and a bite to eat to strengthen you. Do stay awhile before continuing your journey.”

“All right,” they said, “do as you have said.”

⁶ Then Abraham ran back to the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Mix up some pancakes!^[a] Use your best flour, and make enough for the three of them!” ⁷ Then he ran out to the herd and selected a fat calf and told a servant to hurry and butcher it. ⁸ Soon, taking them cheese and milk and the roast veal, he set it before the men and stood beneath the trees beside them as they ate.

⁹ “Where is Sarah, your wife?” they asked him.

“In the tent,” Abraham replied.

¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “Next year^[b] I will give you and Sarah a son!” (Sarah was listening from the tent door behind him.) ¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were both very old, and Sarah was long since past the time when she could have a baby.

¹² So Sarah laughed silently. “A woman my age have a baby?” she scoffed to herself. “And with a husband as old as mine?”

¹³ Then God said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for God? Next year, just as I told you, I will certainly see to it that Sarah has a son.”

¹⁵ But Sarah denied it. “I didn’t laugh,” she lied, for she was afraid.