Editing Sarah (section)

==In the Hebrew Bible==
[[File:Sarah Abraham.jpg|thumb|A depiction of Sarah and Abraham]]

===Family===
According to [[Book of Genesis]] 20:12, in conversation with the [[Philistines|Philistine]] king [[Abimelech|Abimelech of Gerar]], Abraham describes Sarah as both his wife and his [[half-sister]] ("my father's daughter, but not my mother's").<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+20%3A12&version=NKJV|title=Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 20:12 | work = New King James Version|publisher=Bible Gateway|access-date= 2019-08-28}}</ref> Such unions were later explicitly banned in the [[Book of Leviticus]] ({{bibleverse||Leviticus|18:9|HE}}). However, some commentators identify her as Iscah (Genesis 11:29), a daughter of Abraham's brother [[Haran]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Yitzhaki |first=Solomon |title=RASH'I Commentary on the Torah}}</ref><ref name=":1">Schwartz, Howard, (1998). ''Reimagining the Bible: The Storytelling of the Rabbis'', Oxford University Press, New York, p. 36.</ref>

By her union with Abraham, Sarah had one child, [[Isaac]].<ref>{{Cite web |url= https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2747610/jewish/Ishmael-Abrahams-Other-Son.htm |title=Ishmael: Abraham's Other Son |publisher= Chabad |access-date=2019-08-28}}</ref> After her death, Abraham married [[Keturah]], whose identity biblical scholars debate (that is, whether or not she was actually [[Hagar]]), and by her had at least six more children.

===Narrative===
In the biblical narrative, Sarah is the wife of Abraham. In two places in the narrative he says Sarah is his sister (Genesis 12:10 through 13:1, in the encounter with Pharaoh, and Genesis 20, in the encounter with Abimelech). Knowing Sarah to be a great beauty and fearing that the Pharaoh would kill Abraham to be with Sarah, Abraham asks Sarah to tell the Pharaoh that she is his sister ([[Genesis 17]]).

She was originally called '''Sarai'''. In the narrative of the [[covenant of the pieces]] in Genesis 17, during which [[Yahweh]] promises Abram that he and Sarai will have a son, Abram is renamed as Abraham and Sarai is renamed as Sarah. According to most modern scholars, both Sarah and Sarai come from the same root SRR, with both meaning "important woman".<ref name=ha/> A minority of scholars derive Sarai from the root SRY, meaning "contend with" or "withstand", similar to the name [[Israel (name)|Israel]].<ref name=ha>[http://web.archive.org/web/20190705210102/https://hebrew-academy.org.il/2018/08/23/%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%94-%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%A7%D7%94-%D7%A8%D7%97%D7%9C-%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%94/ שרה, רבקה, רחל ולאה]</ref>

====Departure from Ur====
Terah, with Abram (as he was then called), Sarai and Lot, departed for [[Canaan]], but stopped in a place named [[Haran (biblical place)|Haran]], where Terah remained until he died at the age of 205.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:27–11:32|HE}}</ref> Yahweh had told Abram to leave his country and his father's house for a land that he would show him, promising to make of him a great nation, [[blessing|bless]] him, make his name great, bless those who blessed him, and curse "him" that curses him.<ref>{{Bibleverse ||Genesis|12:1–3|9}}</ref> Following God's command, Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and the wealth and [[The Bible and slavery|slaves]] that they had acquired, and traveled to [[Shechem]] in [[Canaan]]. Abram was 75 at this time.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Genesis|12:4|HE}}</ref>

====Pharaoh====
[[File:Tissot Sarai Is Taken to Pharaoh's Palace.jpg|thumb|right|''Sarai Is Taken to Pharaoh's Palace'' by [[James Tissot]].]]
There was a severe famine in the land of Canaan, so Abram and Lot and their households travelled south to <!-- northern -->[[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]]. On the journey to Egypt, Abram instructed Sarai to identify herself only as his sister, fearing that the Egyptians would kill him in order to take his wife, saying, 
{{blockquote|I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'this is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|12:11-13|NIV}}</ref>}} When brought before [[Pharaoh]], Sarai said that Abram was her brother, and the king thereupon took her into his palace and bestowed upon Abram many presents and marks of distinction. However, God afflicted Pharaoh's household with great plagues.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Genesis|12:14–17|HE}}</ref> Pharaoh then realized that Sarai was Abram's wife and demanded that they leave Egypt immediately.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Genesis|12:18–20|HE}}</ref>

====Hagar and Ishmael====
[[File:Abraham renvoyant Agar.jpg|thumb|''Banishment of Hagar'', Etching. À Paris chez Fr. Fanet, Éditeur, Rue des Saints Pères n° 10. 18th century. Sarah is seen at the left, looking on.]]
After having lived in Canaan for ten years and still childless, Sarai suggested that Abram have a child with her Egyptian [[handmaiden]] [[Hagar]], to which he agreed. This resulted in tension between Sarai and Hagar, and Sarai complained to her husband that the handmaid no longer respected her.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Genesis|16:1–6|HE}}</ref> At one point, Hagar fled from her mistress but returned after angels consoled her. She gave birth to Abram's son [[Ishmael]] when Abram was eighty-six years old.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Genesis|16:7–16|HE}}</ref>

====Isaac====
In {{Bibleverse||Genesis|17|HE}} when Abram was ninety-nine years old, God declared his new name: "Abraham"&nbsp;– "a father of many nations", and gave him the covenant of circumcision. God gave Sarai the new name "Sarah", and blessed her.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Genesis|17:1–27|HE}}</ref> Abraham was given assurance that Sarah would have a son. Not long afterwards, Abraham and Sarah were [[Abraham#Three visitors|visited by three men]]. One of the visitors told Abraham that upon his return next year, Sarah would have a son. While at the tent entrance, Sarah overheard what was said, and she laughed to herself about the prospect of having a child at their ages. The visitor inquired of Abraham why Sarah laughed at the idea of bearing a child, for her age was as nothing to God. Sarah soon became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham, at the very time which had been spoken. The patriarch, then a hundred years old, named the child "[[Isaac]]" (Hebrew yitschaq, "laughter") and circumcised him when he was eight days old.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|21:4|9}}</ref> For Sarah, the thought of giving birth and nursing a child, at such an old age, also brought her much laughter, as she declared, "God had made me to laugh, ''[so that]'' all that hear will laugh with me."<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|21:6–7|9}}</ref> Abraham held a great feast on the day when Isaac was to be weaned. It was during this banquet that Sarah happened upon the then teenaged Ishmael mocking Isaac<ref>{{Bibleverse||Genesis|21:9|HE}}</ref> and was so disturbed that she requested that both he and Hagar be banished.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Genesis|21:10|HE}}</ref> Abraham was initially distressed by this but relented when told by God to do as his wife had asked.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Genesis|21:12|HE}}</ref>

====Abimelech====
[[File:Sara-filia Aran.jpg|thumb|right|Sarah, as depicted on ''[[Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum]]'' (1553) by [[Guillaume Rouillé]]]]
After being visited by the three men, Abraham and Sarah settled between [[Kadesh (South of Israel)|Kadesh]] and [[Shur (Bible)|Shur]] in the land of the [[Philistine]]s. While he was living in [[Gerar]], Abraham again claimed that Sarah was his sister. King [[Abimelech]] subsequently had her brought to him. Later, God came to Abimelech in a dream and declared that taking her would result in death because she was a married woman. Abimelech, who had not laid hands on her, inquired if he would also slay a righteous nation, especially since Abraham had claimed that he and Sarah were siblings. In response, God told Abimelech that he did indeed have a blameless heart and that was why he continued to exist. However, if he did not return Sarah to Abraham, God would surely destroy Abimelech and his entire household. Abimelech was informed that Abraham was a prophet who would pray for him.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Genesis|20:1–7|HE}}</ref>

Early the next morning, Abimelech informed his servants of his dream and approached Abraham inquiring as to why he had brought such great guilt upon his kingdom. Abraham replied that he thought there was no fear of God in that place, and that they might kill him for his wife. Then Abraham defended what he had said as not being a lie at all: "And yet indeed ''she is'' my sister; she ''is'' the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife."<ref>{{Bibleverse |Gen.|20:12|9|Genesis 20:12}}</ref> Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham, and gave him gifts of sheep, oxen, and servants; and invited him to settle wherever he pleased in Abimelech's lands. Further, Abimelech gave Abraham a thousand pieces of silver to serve as Sarah's vindication before all. Abraham then prayed for Abimelech and his household, since God had stricken the women with infertility because of the taking of Sarah.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Genesis|20:8–18|HE}}</ref>

====Death====
Sarah dies at the age of 127, and Abraham buys a piece of land with a cave near [[Hebron]] from [[Ephron the Hittite]] in which to bury her, which is the first land owned by the Israelites in Canaan according to the biblical narrative. The place became known as the [[Cave of the Patriarchs]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Blenkinsopp |first1=Joseph |title=Abraham as Paradigm in the Priestly History in Genesis |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |date=2009 |volume=128 |issue=2 |pages=225–41 |doi=10.2307/25610180 |jstor=25610180}}</ref><ref name=NewJerome>{{cite book |last1=Clifford |first1=Richard J |last2= Murphy |first2=Roland E. |editor1-last= Brown |editor1-first= Raymond E. |editor2-last= Fitzmyer |editor2-first=Joseph A. |editor3-last= Murphy |editor3-first=Roland E. |title=The New Jerome Biblical Commentary |date=1990 |publisher= Prentice-Hall |location= Englewood Cliffs, NJ |isbn= 0-13614934-0 |chapter= 2: Genesis}}</ref>{{rp|26}}

===Later Hebrew Bible references===
Sarah is mentioned alongside Abraham in {{bibleverse||Isaiah|51:2|NKJV}}:
:''Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you''.