₁The LORD appeared to Abraham at the sacred trees of Mamre. As Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day, ₂he looked up and saw three men standing there. As soon as he saw them, he ran out to meet them. Bowing down with his face touching the ground, ₃he said, “Sirs, please do not pass by my home without stopping; I am here to serve you. ₄Let me bring some water for you to wash your feet; you can rest here beneath this tree. ₅I will also bring a bit of food; it will give you strength to continue your journey. You have honoured me by coming to my home, so let me serve you.”

They replied, “Thank you; we accept.”

₆Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick, take a sack of your best flour, and bake some bread.” ₇Then he ran to the herd and picked out a calf that was tender and fat, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to get it ready. ₈He took some cream, some milk, and the meat, and set the food before the men. There under the tree he served them himself, and they ate.

₉Then they asked him, “Where is your wife Sarah?”

“She is there in the tent,” he answered.

₁₀One of them said, “Nine months from now I will come back, and your wife Sarah will have a son.”

Sarah was behind him, at the door of the tent, listening. ₁₁Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah had stopped having her monthly periods. ₁₂So Sarah laughed to herself and said, “Now that I am old and worn out, can I still enjoy sex? And besides, my husband is old too.”

₁₃Then the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really have a child when I am so old?’ ₁₄Is anything too hard for the LORD? As I said, nine months from now I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

₁₅Because Sarah was afraid, she denied it. “I didn't laugh,” she said.

“Yes, you did,” he replied. “You laughed.”

₁The LORD blessed Sarah, as he had promised, ₂and she became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham when he was old. The boy was born at the time God had said he would be born. ₃Abraham named him Isaac, ₄and when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded. ₅Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born. ₆Sarah said, “God has brought me joy and laughter. Everyone who hears about it will laugh with me.” ₇Then she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”