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In Genesis 21, Sarah says that God has made her laugh, and others will laugh with her. The Greek Septuagint uses a word meaning “rejoice” instead of laugh, possibly influencing the book of Jubilees, which emphasizes rejoicing at Isaac’s birth.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 21:6
Hebrew Bible
4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him just as God had commanded him to do. 5 (Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.) 6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7 She went on to say, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son for him in his old age!”
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Genesis 21:6
Septuagint
4 And Abraham circumcised Isaac on the eighth day, as God commanded him. 5 And Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac his son was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, The Lord has made laughter for me, for whoever shall hear shall rejoice with me. 7 And she said, Who shall say to Abraham that Sarah suckles a child? for I have borne a son in my old age.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... the Septuagint of Genesis 21:6 deviates from the Masoretic text and the Samaritan Pentateuch in that the root צחק, which occurs twice in Genesis 21:6, is translated the second time with a form of συγχαίρω (“to rejoice”) "and Sarah said: 'the Lord has made laughter for me, because everyone who hears will rejoice with me'"). Although Genesis 21:6 as such is not taken over in Jubilees, a reading parallel to the Septuagint might have had an influence on Jubilees, in that a form of the root “to rejoice” occurs several times in the addition of Jubilees 16:15–31 ..."
Jacques T. A. G. M. van Ruiten, Abraham in the Book of Jubilees: The Rewriting of Genesis 11:26–25:10 in the Book of Jubilees 11:14–23:8, JSJSup 161 (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 188.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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