Matriarch · OT
Sarah
Wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac — the first of Israel's matriarchs.
Sarah (originally Sarai, 'my princess'; renamed Sarah, 'princess') was the wife and half-sister of Abraham. Barren for most of her life, she shared in his pilgrim journey from Ur to Canaan and through the years of waiting on God's promise of a son. Twice her beauty led to crises in foreign courts, where Abraham passed her off as his sister to save his own life — and twice God intervened to protect her.
When the promise of a son was repeated to her elderly husband by the three visitors at Mamre, Sarah laughed inwardly at the impossibility. A year later she bore Isaac, and the long laughter of unbelief became the laughter of joy: 'God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.'
She died at one hundred twenty-seven in Hebron, and Abraham bought the cave of Machpelah to bury her — the first deeded piece of the Promised Land. The New Testament names her among the heroes of faith and the model of holy women (1 Peter 3:6).
Key moments
Left Ur with Abraham
The first woman of the covenant pilgrimage.
Gave Hagar to Abraham
Genesis 16 — a fateful detour from the promise.
Laughed at the promise of a son
Genesis 18 — and a year later bore Isaac.
Buried in Machpelah
The first family tomb in the Promised Land.
Key verses
"And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and moreover I will give thee a son of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be of her."
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"Is anything too hard for Jehovah? At the set time I will return unto thee, when the season cometh round, and Sarah shall have a son."
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"And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh; every one that heareth will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should give children suck? for I have borne him a son in his old age."
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"By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive seed when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised:"
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"as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose children ye now are, if ye do well, and are not put in fear by any terror."
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Frequently asked
How old was Sarah when she had Isaac?
Ninety years old (Genesis 17:17). She lived another thirty-seven years after his birth, dying at 127 (Genesis 23:1).
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