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LXX Genesis

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 21

1 And the Lord visited Sarah, as he said, and the Lord did to Sarah, as he spoke. 2 And she conceived and bore to Abraham a son in old age, at the set time according as the Lord spoke to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 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. 8 And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast the day that his son Isaac was weaned. 9 And Sarah having seen the son of Hagar the Egyptian who was born to Abraham,⁠ sporting with Isaac her son, 10 then she said to Abraham, Cast out this enslaved woman and her son, for the son of this enslaved woman shall not inherit with my son Isaac. 11 But the word appeared very hard before Abraham concerning his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, Let it not be hard before you concerning the child, and concerning the enslaved woman; in all things whatever Sarah shall say to you, hear her voice, for in Isaac shall your seed be called. 13 And moreover I will make the son of this enslaved woman a great nation, because he is your seed. 14 And Abraham rose up in the morning and took loaves and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, and he put the child on her shoulder, and sent her away, and she having departed wandered in the wilderness near the well of the oath. 15 And the water failed out of the skin, and she cast the child under a fir tree. 16 And she departed and sat down opposite him at a distance, as it were a bow-shot, for she said, Surely I can’t see the death of my child: and she sat opposite him, and the child cried aloud and wept.⁠ 17 And God heard the voice of the child from the place where he was, and an angel of God called Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, What is it, Hagar? do not fear, for God has heard the voice of your child from the place where he is. 18 Rise up, and take the child, and hold him in your hand, for I will make him a great nation. 19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of springing water; and she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the child drink. 20 And God was with the child, and he grew and lived in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21 And he lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. 22 And it happened at that time that Abimelech spoke, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the chief captain of his host, to Abraham, saying, God is with you in all things, whatever you may do. 23 Now therefore swear to me by God that you will not injure me, nor my seed, nor my name, but according to the righteousness which I have performed with you you shall deal with me, and with the land in which you have stayed. 24 And Abraham said, I will swear. 25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of the wells of water, which the servants of Abimelech took away. 26 And Abimelech said to him, I do not know who has done this thing to you, neither did you tell it to me, neither did I hear it but only today. 27 And Abraham took sheep and calves, and gave them to Abimelech, and both made a covenant. 28 And Abraham set seven ewe-lambs by themselves. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What are these seven ewe-lambs which you have set alone? 30 And Abraham said, You shall receive the seven ewe-lambs from me, that they may be for me as a witness, that I dug this well. 31 Therefore he named the name of that place, The Well of the Oath, for there they both swore. 32 And they made a covenant at the well of the oath. And there rose up Abimelech, Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the commander-in-chief of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 And Abraham planted a field at the well of the oath, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. 34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 21:6 and LXX Genesis 21:6

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

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.

Passages

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!”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

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.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Genesis

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.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 21:6 and LXX Genesis 21:6

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