Genesis 21:6

Summary

Sarah declares that Elohim ("God", H0430) has produced laughter for her, and predicts that everyone who hears of it will laugh together with her. The verse plays on the root tz-ch-q, which appears twice — once as a noun and once as a verb — linking Sarah's statement directly to the name Yitzchak (Isaac).

Key words

• tzechok ("laughter", H6712) — masculine singular noun, placed at the very front of the sentence, before the verb and subject.
• 'asah ("he has made", H6213) — qal perfect, marking a completed action: the laughter is presented as an accomplished fact.
• Elohim ("God", H0430) — masculine plural noun functioning as the grammatical subject of 'asah, used here with singular verbal agreement as is standard for this divine name.
• ha-shome'a ("the one hearing", H8085) — qal participle with the definite article, describing an ongoing or general category of person ("whoever hears") rather than a specific individual.
• yitzchak ("he will laugh", H6711) — qal imperfect, indicating a future or repeated action, and sharing the same triliteral root (tz-ch-q) as tzechok.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence begins with va-tomer Sarah ("and Sarah said", H9001/H0559/H8283), the standard narrative construction introducing direct speech. Within Sarah's own words, the object tzechok ("laughter") is placed before the verb 'asah ("he has made") and before the subject Elohim ("God"). This fronting of the noun gives tzechok emphasis at the head of the clause, foregrounding "laughter" itself as the topic before naming who caused it and who is affected (li, "for me", H9005/H9030).

The second half of the verse shifts from completed action to future/ongoing action: kol ha-shome'a ("everyone who hears", H3605/H8085) uses a participle to describe a general class of people, followed by yitzchak-li ("he will laugh for me" / "with me", H6711), an imperfect verb. The repetition of the consonantal root tz-ch-q in both tzechok (noun, v. the initial word) and yitzchak (verb, the final word) creates a phonetic and semantic echo across the sentence, tying Sarah's declaration of laughter to the verbal root that also underlies the name Yitzchak.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Elohim (H0430) as kyrios ("Lord") rather than a term corresponding to "God," differing from the Hebrew Elohim and from the Vulgate's Deus ("God"), which matches the Hebrew term more directly. The LXX text also includes an additional element (rendered "Α" in the given Swete text) preceding moi ("to me"), not present in the Hebrew or the Vulgate.