properly · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
return
אָשׁ֥וּב'a.Shuv
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
time
כָּעֵ֥תka.'Et
H6256
time · preposition with the article + noun, common both genders singular construct
life
חַיָּ֖הchai.Yah
H2416
alive · adjective, feminine singular absolute
Sarah
וּלְשָׂרָ֥הu.le.sa.Rah
H8283
Sarah · conjunction + preposition + proper noun, a woman's name
son
בֵֽןVen
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Luke 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
Matthew 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Mark 10:27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.
Jeremiah 32:27 Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Jeremiah 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for the…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 18:9-15
These heavenly guests (being sent to confirm the promise lately made to Abraham, that he should have a son by Sarah), while they are receiving Abraham's kind entertainment, they return his kindness. He receives angels, and has angels' rewards, a gracious message from heaven, Mat 10:41.
I. Care is taken that Sarah should be within hearing. She must conceive by faith, and therefore the promise must be made to her, Heb 11:11. It was the modest usage of that time that the women did not sit at meat with men, at least not with strangers, but confined themselves to their own apartments; therefore Sarah is here out of sight: but she must not be out of hearing. The angels enquire (Gen 18:9), Where is…
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself--Long delay seems to have weakened faith. Sarah treated the announcement as incredible, and when taxed with the silent sneer, she added falsehood to distrust. It was an aggravated offense (Act 5:4), and nothing but grace saved her (Rom 9:18).
Adam Clarke on Genesis 18:14
Is any thing too hard for the Lord? - היפלא מיהוה דבר hayippale meihovah dabar, shall a word (or thing) be wonderful from the Lord? i.e., Can any thing be too great a miracle for him to effect? The Septuagint translate the passage, Μη αδυνατησει παρα τῳ Θεῳ ῥημα; which St. Luke adopts almost literatim, only making it an affirmative position instead of a question: Ουκ αδυνατησει παρα τῳ Θεῳ παν ῥημα, which we translate, "With God nothing shall be impossible," Luk 1:37. Many copies of the Septuagint insert the word παν before ῥημα, as in St. Luke; but it makes little difference in the sense. It was to correct Sarah's unbelief, and to strengthen her faith, that God spoke these most impor…
Is anything too hard for the Lord?.... Whose power is infinite; or "too wonderful" (x), so wonderful and beyond all belief, that it can never be thought it will be done by him; and why then should it be thought incredible or impossible that Sarah should have a child, though she is old? Or, is "anything hidden from the Lord" (y)? Nothing can be, not Sarah's laughter.
At the time appointed will I return to thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son; which words are repeated not merely for the confirmation of Abraham's faith, which staggered not, but to remove Sarah's unbelief, and to encourage her faith in the divine promise.
(x) "nunquid mirabile vel mirificabitur", Mun…
The Church Fathers
AT WHAT SIGN DID ABRAHAM AND SARAH RECOGNIZE THE ANGELS? — But Sarah denied, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid . How could they think it was God who spoke if Sarah dared to deny that she had laughed, as if God could ignore it? Maybe Sarah thought they were men; Abraham, on the other hand, believed that he (the angel) was God. But he too, in carrying out those charitable actions of which I have spoken before, which could only be necessary for the fragile flesh, must have thought at first that they were men. But perhaps you will say that Abraham believed that it was God who spoke through certain visible and perceptible signs of divine majesty, as the Scripture testifies which were often seen in men of God. But there is still the problem of knowing, if that is the case, how they knew afterwards that they were angels. And the answer is that perhaps they knew it when they went to heaven in their presence. [
"Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son." With this statement heard, all doubt was so removed, and her faith so confirmed, that the Apostle rightly says of her: "By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive." But when he says "I will return to you," and added "with life as a companion," he speaks in a human manner, as if he were to say: "If life is a companion." But it should be understood more deeply that the angels always converse with life as a companion either in heaven or descend to earth, certainly with that life that says: "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself;" by whose vision and enlightenment the angels and holy men are perpetually blessed. Indeed, this place seems comparable by contrast with the deeds of the first man; for after his transgression, he did not see the Lord God but is said to have heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden; here, the future blessing's faith, hope, and love inflamed he saw the Lord standing, because surely with this he was to remain, the contemplation of divine clarity having departed from him. Hearing the voice of the Lord God, trembling he hid himself because he truly blushed at his error. Here, having seen the Lord, he immediately joyfully ran, believing that by the merit of obedience he had pleased Him. He on the cool of the day, this one at the very heat of the day; because this one burned with the fire of divine love, the other by sinning had driven away the light of divine protection and love from himself. This one receives and entertains the Lord as a guest, to show with the carnal feast provided that he would foster Him with spiritual feasts in his heart by living devoutly, according to what the Lord Himself promised about His lovers: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20). The other, that is, the first man, who ate what was forbidden, lost those delights which he could have had perpetually in the presence of the Lord and His angels, also being visibly excluded from the tree of life so that it might be openly shown that he had lost the incorruptible fruit of wisdom, which he used to enjoy invisibly. And because the…
Dictionary and topics
Angel — A word signifying, both in the Hebrew and Greek, a “messenger,” and hence employed to denote any agent God sends forth to execute his purposes. It is used of an ordinary messenger (Job 1:14: 1 Sam.…
Angel Of The Lord — (Genesis 16:7) etc. (The special form in which God manifested himself to man, and hence Christ’s visible form before the incarnation. Compare (Acts 7:30-38) with the corresponding Old-Testament…
Abraham · Angels appear to — Angels appear to
Communion · .Abraham — .Abraham
Condescension Of God · Enters into covenant with Abraham — Enters into covenant with Abraham
Doubting · EXEMPLIFIED — EXEMPLIFIED
God · .To Abraham — .To Abraham
Isaac · 1. The miraculous — 1. The miraculous
Mamre · .Entertains three angels, and is promised a — .Entertains three angels, and is promised a
Power Of God, The · Nothing too hard for — Nothing too hard for
Sarah · .Her miraculous conception of — .Her miraculous conception of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And the Lord said. Because the majesty of God had now been manifested in the angels, Moses expressly mentions his Name. We have before declared, in what sense the name of God is transferred to the angel; it is not, therefore, now necessary to repeat it: except, as it is always important to remark, that the word of the Lord is so precious to himself, that he would be regarded by us as present, whenever he speaks through his ministers. Again, whenever he manifested himself to the fathers, Christ was the Mediator between him and them; who not only personates God in proclaiming his word, but is also truly and essentially God. And because the laughter of Sarah had not been detected by the eye of…
During the meal, at which Abraham stood, and waited upon them as the host, they asked for Sarah, for whom the visit was chiefly intended. On being told that she was in the tent, where she could hear, therefore, all that passed under the tree in front of the tent, the one whom Abraham addressed as Adonai (my Lord), and who is called Jehovah in Gen 18:13, said, "I will return to thee (חיּה כּעת) at this time, when it lives again" (חיּה, reviviscens, without the article, Ges. 111, 2b), i.e., at this time next year; "and, behold, Sarah, thy wife, will (then) have a son." Sarah heard this at the door of the tent; "and it was behind Him" (Jehovah), so that she could not be seen by Him as she stood…
Is anything too hard for the Lord? The question is rhetorical. God is able to do marvelous things. Nothing is incredible to those in covenant fellowship with the Lord, because nothing is too difficult for him.
Rashi on Genesis 18:11
חדל להיות means [that] it had ceased from her.
אורח כנשים means the way of menstruation.
