שָׂרָה

Genesis 17:15 שָׂרָ֖ה [is] Sarah

Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai, for her name is to be Sarah.

Genesis 17:17 שָׂרָ֔ה Sarah

Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?”

Here: Also a new name, given in 17:15 ('princess'). God has just said she will be 'the mother of nations' with kings among her descendants (17:16).

Genesis 17:19 שָׂרָ֣ה Sarah

But God replied, “Your wife Sarah will indeed bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

Here: The new name given in verse 15 (from Sarai). It means 'princess' or 'noblewoman' and fits the promise that kings will come from her (v. 16). Putting her name first stresses who the mother will be.

Genesis 17:21 שָׂרָה֙ Sarah

But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”

Here: This is the new name given in 17:15, where she is promised to become 'nations' and to have 'kings of peoples' come from her. Naming her makes clear the covenant heir comes through the principal wife.

Genesis 18:6 שָׂרָ֑ה Sarah

So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.”

Here: Abraham's wife, renamed in 17:15. She runs the household's bread-making and is about to become the subject of the guests' announcement (vv.9–15).

Genesis 18:9 שָׂרָ֣ה [is] Sarah

“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked. “There, in the tent,” he replied.

Here: Her new name, given by God only in the previous chapter (17:15) in place of Sarai. Abraham has not introduced her, yet strangers know her by the name tied to the promise of a son. That detail tips off the reader that these are no ordinary travelers.

Genesis 18:10 לְשָׂרָ֣ה וְשָׂרָ֥ה [will belong] to Sarah, and Sarah

Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was behind him, listening at the entrance to the tent.

Here: "To Sarah" or "belonging to Sarah". There is no verb in the clause. "A son to Sarah" is the Hebrew way of saying "Sarah will have a son". The son is credited to her, not to a surrogate as Ishmael had been through Hagar (ch. 16).

Genesis 18:11 וְשָׂרָה֙ לְשָׂרָ֔ה and Sarah, to Sarah

And Abraham and Sarah were already old and well along in years; Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

Here: Sarah, renamed in 17:15 with the promise that she would become 'nations'. The two are named together because the problem belongs to both of them as a couple, though the second half of the verse narrows it to her body.

Genesis 18:12 שָׂרָ֖ה Sarah

So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

Here: God had just renamed her from Sarai and promised that kings would come from her (17:15–16). She is about ninety (17:17) and is listening from inside the tent (18:10).

Genesis 18:13 שָׂרָ֜ה Sarah

And the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really bear a child when I am old?’

Genesis 18:14 וּלְשָׂרָ֥ה and [will belong] to Sarah

Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”

Here: 'And to Sarah', i.e. 'Sarah will have'. Hebrew says possession as 'to X there is'. Naming Sarah directly answers her laugh in v.12 and her own question in v.13.

Genesis 18:15 שָׂרָ֧ה׀ Sarah

But Sarah was afraid, so she denied it and said, “I did not laugh.” “No,” replied the LORD, “but you did laugh.”

Here: The subject of the denial. Her new name (given in 17:15) means "princess" or "noblewoman", the woman God has just promised will be the mother of the line of promise.

Genesis 20:2 שָׂרָ֥ה שָׂרָֽה׃ Sarah

Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.

Here: Her covenant name, meaning "princess" (17:15). She is named at the start and at the end of the verse and never speaks. Others talk about her and act on her.

Genesis 20:14 שָׂרָ֥ה Sarah

So Abimelech brought sheep and cattle, menservants and maidservants, and he gave them to Abraham and restored his wife Sarah to him.

Here: Sarah, whose name means "princess". She is the real centre of the episode. Everything in the chapter turns on her being restored untouched.

Genesis 20:16 וּלְשָׂרָ֣ה and to Sarah

And he said to Sarah, “See, I am giving your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is your vindication before all who are with you; you are completely cleared.”

Genesis 20:18 שָׂרָ֖ה Sarah

for on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah, the LORD had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household.

Genesis 21:1 שָׂרָ֖ה לְשָׂרָ֖ה Sarah, to Sarah

Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.

Here: Abraham's wife, renamed from Sarai in 17:15 when God promised that she in particular would bear the son. The verse names her twice and keeps the attention on her, not on Abraham.

Genesis 21:2 שָׂרָ֧ה Sarah

So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised.

Here: Sarah is the subject of both verbs. She is the woman described as barren from her first mention (11:30), and she laughed at the announcement (18:12). Her renamed form 'Sarah' (17:15) means 'princess', which fits her new role as 'mother of nations' (17:16).

Genesis 21:3 שָׂרָ֖ה Sarah

And Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him.

Genesis 21:6 שָׂרָ֔ה Sarah

Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”

Here: Sarah, about ninety (17:17) and long barren (11:30). She is the one who laughed in disbelief at the promise (18:12–15), so having her speak here closes that thread.

Genesis 21:7 שָׂרָ֑ה Sarah

She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Genesis 21:9 שָׂרָ֜ה Sarah

But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son,

Here: Abraham's principal wife and Isaac's mother. Her own laughter (18:12–15; 21:6) runs underneath this verse's last word.

Genesis 21:12 שָׂרָ֖ה Sarah

But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to everything that Sarah tells you, for through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.

Here: The name sits at the end of its clause for emphasis: 'all she tells you, Sarah, …' Her name was given in 17:15 with the promise that she would bear the heir.

Genesis 23:1 שָׂרָ֔ה שָׂרָֽה׃ Sarah

Now Sarah lived to be 127 years old.

Genesis 23:2 שָׂרָ֗ה לְשָׂרָ֖ה Sarah, for Sarah

She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her.

Here: Her name means 'princess' or 'noblewoman'. God gave her this name in Genesis 17:15 when he promised she would be 'a mother of nations'. She is named outright as the subject. The narrator does not just say 'she'.

Genesis 23:19 שָׂרָ֣ה Sarah

After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

Here: The matriarch whose death opened the chapter (23:1–2). She is the first of the family laid in the land.

Genesis 24:36 שָׂרָה֩ Sarah

My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and my master has given him everything he owns.

Genesis 24:67 שָׂרָ֣ה Sarah

And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah as his wife. And Isaac loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death.

Here: Names the tent's former owner. The grammar is loose ('the tent, Sarah his mother'), which suggests the name was added to explain or stands loosely beside 'the tent'. Either way, the point is that it was Sarah's tent.

Genesis 25:10 וְשָׂרָ֥ה and Sarah

This was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.

Here: Added after the verb, as Hebrew often does: 'was buried Abraham, and Sarah.' Sarah was buried there first (Gen 23:19). Now the two lie together.

Genesis 25:12 שָׂרָ֖ה Sarah

This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant, bore to Abraham.

Genesis 49:31 שָׂרָ֣ה Sarah

There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah.

Isaiah 51:2 שָׂרָ֖ה Sarah

Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. When I called him, he was but one; then I blessed him and multiplied him.

Here: Abraham's wife, known in Genesis for being barren until old age (Gen 11:30; 18:11). Outside Genesis this is the only place in the Hebrew Bible where she is named.