1 Visitavit autem Dominus Saram, sicut promiserat: et implevit quæ locutus est.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Conjugal chastity accords with the written law by reason of the divine miracle, according to that passage of Genesis 21: The Lord visited Sarah, as He had promised, and fulfilled what He had spoken, and she conceived and bore a son in her old age, at the time which God had foretold to her.
2 Concepitque et peperit filium in senectute sua, tempore quo prædixerat ei Deus.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Do you wish to learn the symbolic meaning of Sarah's sterility? The church was to bring forth the multitude of believers. In order, therefore, that you may not find incredible how one who was childless, fruitless and barren could have given birth, she who by nature was barren went ahead, paving the way for chosen sterility, and Sarah became a type of the church.
Bede · AD 735 The Lord visited Sarah as He had promised, and fulfilled what He had spoken to her; she conceived and bore a son in her old age at the time God had predicted to her.
3 Vocavitque Abraham nomen filii sui, quem genuit ei Sara, Isaac:
Bede · AD 735 And Abraham called the name of his son whom Sarah bore to him Isaac. Isaac is interpreted as Laughter or Joy, which very name is fitting for all the faithful, to whom among other goods of the heavenly inheritance, their Redeemer promises by saying: "Again I will see you, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you" (John XVI, 1).
4 et circumcidit eum octavo die, sicut præceperat ei Deus,
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 Let us ask the Lord lest, in accordance with the apostle's word, even with us, "when Moses is read the veil be upon" our "heart." For it has been read that Abraham begot a son, Isaac, when he was a hundred years old.
Bede · AD 735 And he circumcised him on the eighth day, as God had commanded him when he was a hundred years old. Just as Isaac was indeed born during the time of the Old Testament, yet by his very birth he designates the heirs of the New Testament, so the circumcision by which he was consecrated is indeed a sacrament of the Old Testament, but it was foreshadowed in the figure of the grace o…
5 cum centum esset annorum: hac quippe ætate patris, natus est Isaac.
6 Dixitque Sara: Risum fecit mihi Deus: quicumque audierit, corridebit mihi.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 Isaac means "laughter" or "joy." Who is it, then, who begets such a son? It is doubtless he who said of these whom he begot through the gospel: "For you are my joy and crown of glory." For sons of this kind, there is a feast and great joy when they are weaned, for these who "no longer need milk, but strong meat, who by taking up their power have their senses exercised to the di…
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 In our father Isaac or the origin is sufficiently expressed, either by grace or by glory: to whom all glory redounds, that he was born to Abraham, a reward for such a worthy and admirable man. Nor is it surprising, since he preceded in the figure of the Lord's generation and passion.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Come now, today too, dearly beloved, let us take up the thread of yesterday's remarks and thus set before you this spiritual meal so that we may once more come to learn, as you heard yesterday, the good God's ineffable care and considerateness and the patriarch's remarkable obedience and gratitude. Do you see how the birth of Isaac made Sarah joyful?
7 Rursumque ait: Quis auditurus crederet Abraham quod Sara lactaret filium, quem peperit ei jam seni?
8 Crevit igitur puer, et ablactatus est: fecitque Abraham grande convivium in die ablactationis ejus.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 Isaac, Scripture says, "grew" and became strong; that is, Abraham's joy grew as he looked not at those things "which are seen but at the things which are not seen." For Abraham did not rejoice about present things or about the riches of the world and the activities of the age. But do you wish to hear why Abraham rejoiced?
Bede · AD 735 The boy grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day of his weaning. Isaac is nourished with milk when each chosen one, that is, the son of the promise, newly begotten in Christ, receives the first rudiments of faith, and although he cannot yet sufficiently search the most profound secrets of divinity, nevertheless, delighted by the sweetness of celestial rewa…
9 Cumque vidisset Sara filium Agar Ægyptiæ ludentem cum Isaac filio suo, dixit ad Abraham:
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 Spiritually, therefore, all indeed who come to the recognition of God through faith can be called sons of Abraham; but among these some cling to God on the basis of love, others on the basis of dread and fear of future judgment.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 See, I ask you, dearly beloved, in this instance once again Sarah not tolerating the brashness of Ishmael and unable to put up equably with the maidservant's son being reared with Isaac. So just as she previously wished to check Hagar's arrogance and in her extreme irritation had her sent packing, so in this case too she wanted to nip Ishmael's forwardness in the bud.
Bede · AD 735 And when Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian playing, she said to Abraham: "Expel this slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac." Some manuscripts have: "The son of Hagar the Egyptian playing with her son Isaac," which does not appear in the Hebrew; but whether he was playing with Isaac or in the presence of Isaac, Sarah di…
10 Ejice ancillam hanc, et filium ejus: non enim erit hæres filius ancillæ cum filio meo Isaac.
Galatians · AD 50 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Ephrem the Syrian · AD 373 Then Sarah, who showed no envy in any matter that concerned herself, became envious in this matter concerning her son. She was not envious of Hagar whom she had given to her husband.
Bede · AD 735 For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac. Which the Apostle states as with the son of the freewoman, because in no way should false teachers, who affirm that this grace benefits us only if we are also consecrated by circumcision according to the rite of the law, be received with the preachers of the truth, who proclaim that we should be saved by the grac…
11 Dure accepit hoc Abraham pro filio suo.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 For her part, however, Sarah was not guilty of acting unreasonably; she acted even quite logically, so logically that even God agreed with the words she spoke. The patriarch, being affectionate and well disposed toward Ishmael, did not take kindly to her remarks.
12 Cui dixit Deus: Non tibi videatur asperum super puero, et super ancilla tua: omnia quæ dixerit tibi Sara, audi vocem ejus: quia in Isaac vocabitur tibi semen.
Romans · AD 56 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Don't object, he says, to what is said to you by her; instead, "whatever Sarah says to you, heed her." Accept everything she now says to you about Ishmael and Hagar, and pay close attention.
13 Sed et filium ancillæ faciam in gentem magnam, quia semen tuum est.
14 Surrexit itaque Abraham mane, et tollens panem et utrem aquæ, imposuit scapulæ ejus, tradiditque puerum, et dimisit eam. Quæ cum abiisset, errabat in solitudine Bersabee.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 Let us see what Abraham does meanwhile after Sarah is displeased. He casts out the bondwoman and her son, but nevertheless he gives him a bottle of water. For his mother does not have a well of living water, nor could the boy draw water from a well. Isaac has wells for which he also suffers strife against the Philistines, but Ishmael drinks water from a bottle.
Eusebius of Emesa · AD 360 But was the just Abraham inhumane in that he did not even supply Hagar and the boy with a donkey, with all the cattle he possessed? Some say it was a gesture of kindness, so that she would not have to look after the donkey; others say that he did this believing that God would protect the boy. But why does he throw her out in the first place?
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 14) And he took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. When Isaac was born, Ishmael was thirteen years old. And after he was weaned, he was expelled from the house with his mother.
15 Cumque consumpta esset aqua in utre, abjecit puerum subter unam arborum, quæ ibi erant.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 15, 16.) And she put the boy under a tree, and went and sat opposite him, as if shooting an arrow. She said, 'I will not see the death of my child.' And she sat opposite him. And immediately it happened: The boy cried out, and wept, and God heard the voice of the boy from the place where he was.
16 Et abiit, seditque e regione procul quantum potest arcus jacere: dixit enim: Non videbo morientem puerum: et sedens contra, levavit vocem suam et flevit.
17 Exaudivit autem Deus vocem pueri: vocavitque angelus Dei Agar de cælo, dicens: Quid agis Agar? noli timere: exaudivit enim Deus vocem pueri de loco in quo est.
18 Surge, tolle puerum, et tene manum illius: quia in gentem magnam faciam eum.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 What loving kindness on the Lord's part! Far from ignoring [Hagar] as a menial servant, he deigned to show her such wonderful concern for the reason that he had made the promise to the patriarch and the child was his. Hence the words "What is it, Hagar? Don't worry: God heard the cry of the child.
19 Aperuitque oculos ejus Deus: quæ videns puteum aquæ, abiit, et implevit utrem, deditque puero bibere.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 After this, when already he had been abandoned as dead and had wept, the angel of the Lord is present with him "and opened Hagar's eyes, and she saw a well of living water."How can these words be related to history? For when do we find that Hagar has closed eyes and they are later opened?
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Mindful of this, let us, I beseech you, shun the harm of this passion and with all our might exterminate it from our own souls. This, after all, is more deadly than all other passions and undermines our very salvation, being in fact the invention of the wicked demon.
Cyril of Alexandria · AD 444 Abraham took it very hard when Hagar fled from him, though he had sent her off at God's command. Similarly it was a great cause of sorrow to the holy apostles and evangelists when Israel fell. However, they were separated from them, not at all willingly but because of God's will and out of love for Christ.
20 Et fuit cum eo: qui crevit, et moratus est in solitudine, factusque est juvenis sagittarius.
21 Habitavitque in deserto Pharan, et accepit illi mater sua uxorem de terra Ægypti.
22 Eodem tempore dixit Abimelech, et Phicol princeps exercitus ejus, ad Abraham: Deus tecum est in universis quæ agis.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 22.) And Abimelech and Phicol, the commanders of his army, said to his servants, 'Except Abimelech and Phicol, the third name mentioned here is not found in the Hebrew text.'
23 Jura ergo per Deum, ne noceas mihi, et posteris meis, stirpique meæ: sed juxta misericordiam, quam feci tibi, facies mihi, et terræ in qua versatus es advena.
Ephrem the Syrian · AD 373 After these things, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, for they saw that God was with him and had helped him in the wars of the kings and had also promised him the land of the Canaanites.
24 Dixitque Abraham: Ego jurabo.
25 Et increpavit Abimelech propter puteum aquæ quem vi abstulerunt servi ejus.
26 Responditque Abimelech: Nescivi quis fecerit hanc rem: sed et tu non indicasti mihi, et ego non audivi præter hodie.
27 Tulit itaque Abraham oves et boves, et dedit Abimelech: percusseruntque ambo fœdus.
28 Et statuit Abraham septem agnas gregis seorsum.
29 Cui dixit Abimelech: Quid sibi volunt septem agnæ istæ, quas stare fecisti seorsum?
30 At ille: Septem, inquit, agnas accipies de manu mea: ut sint mihi in testimonium, quoniam ego fodi puteum istum.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 30) And he said, 'You shall take these seven ewes from me, that they may be a witness for me that I have dug this well.' Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because both of them swore an oath there. Where this is read, Beersheba, in Hebrew it is called Beersheba.
31 Idcirco vocatus est locus ille Bersabee: quia ibi uterque juravit.
32 Et inierunt fœdus pro puteo juramenti.
33 Surrexit autem Abimelech, et Phicol princeps exercitus ejus, reversique sunt in terram Palæstinorum. Abraham vero plantavit nemus in Bersabee, et invocavit ibi nomen Domini Dei æterni.
34 Et fuit colonus terræ Palæstinorum diebus multis.