Sarah in the Bible

Sarah, first called Sarai, was Abraham’s wife and Isaac’s mother. She traveled with Abraham toward Canaan, lived through a long period of childlessness, received a new name alongside the covenant promise, bore Isaac at ninety, and died at 127.

Sarah means “princess” or “noblewoman.” Sarai is traditionally explained as “my princess,” although scholars differ over the older name’s ending. Genesis 17 records the name change alongside God’s promise that nations and kings would come from her; it does not explain the Hebrew ending.

Genesis 17 changes Sarai’s name to Sarah when God promises that she will bear Isaac and become the mother of nations and kings. The passage does not present the change as a correction for wrongdoing; it marks her place in the covenant promise.

Sarah was ninety years old when Isaac was born. In Genesis 17:17, Abraham asks whether a man of one hundred and a woman of ninety can have a child. The promise is for the following year, and Genesis 21:5 confirms that Abraham was one hundred at Isaac’s birth.

Sarah died at 127 years old. Genesis 23:1 directly states her lifespan before describing Abraham’s mourning and purchase of the cave of Machpelah for her burial.

The Bible does not state Sarah’s cause of death. Genesis gives her age and location at death, then focuses on mourning and burial. Claims about a disease or a reaction to Isaac’s near-sacrifice go beyond the Genesis text.

Sarah was buried in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, identified with Hebron in Canaan. Abraham purchased the field and cave from Ephron the Hittite as a permanent burial property.

In Genesis 20:12, Abraham says Sarah is his father’s daughter but not his mother’s daughter. Read literally, this describes a half-sister and makes Terah her father as well. Genesis 11 does not give Sarah a separate parental genealogy. A later Jewish interpretation identifies her with Iscah, Haran’s daughter, but Genesis does not explicitly make that identification.

In Genesis 16, Sarah gives Hagar to Abraham as a wife, hoping to have a family through her. Hagar becomes pregnant and looks down on Sarah; Sarah treats her harshly, and she flees. In Genesis 21, Sarah demands that Hagar and Ishmael leave so Ishmael will not share Isaac’s inheritance. God tells Abraham to listen to Sarah, confirms the promise through Isaac, and also promises a nation for Ishmael. God later hears the boy and shows Hagar a well in the wilderness.

God promises Sarah a son and descendants who will become nations and kings (Genesis 17:15–21). Isaiah 51:2 remembers her as Israel’s ancestor. Hebrews 11:11 discusses the promised birth, and Galatians 4:21–31 uses Sarah and Hagar in Paul’s allegory of two covenants.