Texts in Conversation
In Genesis 18, Sarah's laughter shares Danel's response to a promised child, using a familiar reaction to highlight the gap between God's promise and what a parent can believe.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.17 II:10
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
He shall serve up your share in the house of [Baal], [and your portion] in the house of El; taking your hand when [drunk], supporting you when sated with wine; he shall plaster your roof on a muddy day, he shall wash Danel's face was radiant with joy, above, his forehead shone. He unknit his brow and laughed; he put his foot on the footstool, he opened his mouth and cried: “Now I can sit down and rest, and my spirit can rest in my breast, for a son shall be born to me like my brothers, a scion like my kinsmen. He shall set up the stela of my ancestral god, in the sanctuary the cippus of my kinsman; into the earth sending forth my dying breath, into the dust protecting my progress; he shall shut the mouths of my slanderers, he shall drive away those who are ill-disposed towards me.
Genesis 18:12
Hebrew Bible
11 Abraham and Sarah were old and advancing in years; Sarah had long since passed menopause.) 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, especially when my husband is old too?” 13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child when I am old?’ 14 Is anything impossible for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.” 15 Then Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. But the Lord said, “No! You did laugh.” 16 When the men got up to leave, they looked out over Sodom. (Now Abraham was walking with them to see them on their way.) 17 Then the Lord said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
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Notes and References
“... The stories about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and his sons in
Genesis 12–50 have broad and specific correlations with the
Kirta and Aqhat tales from Ugarit dating to the fourteenth
century BCE [...] The biblical
and Ugaritic stories concern a father, portrayed as pious or
favored by the god(s), who lacks an heir or a wife. The deity
or deities promise the father that he will have offspring to
carry on the line, but this promise is compromised in some
manner. [...] Within this framework of general correlations, the biblical
stories contain specific motifs similar to those found in the
Ugaritic tales. [...] “joy” or
“laughing,” described with the verb ṣḥq, upon hearing a child ...” “... will be born (Gen 18:12–15; KTU 1.17 ii 10–11; but see the
idiom in KTU 1.3 ii 25; 1.4 v 25–26; 1.18 i 22–23) ...”
Baden, Joel S., Jeffrey Stackert, and Christoph Berner (eds.)
The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch
(p. PDF 729–730) Oxford University Press, 2021
* 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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