Meaning of the Name Sarah
The Hebrew name Sarah means 'princess, noblewoman'. In Genesis 17:15 God changes her name from Sarai to Sarah, and the promise that follows declares she will be 'a mother of nations'.
Origin
The name Sarah is of Hebrew origin.
Who is Sarah in the Bible?
Sarah is Abraham's wife and Isaac's mother. Childless for many years, she bore the promised son in old age; the name Isaac recalls the laughter with which the news was met. The New Testament counts her among the examples of faith.
The story of Sarah in the Bible
Sarah enters the Bible as Sarai, Abraham's wife, present at every step of the long migration from Haran to Canaan. She also carries the story's heaviest burden: she has no child, and the passing years do not change that. When God renews his covenant with Abraham, he gives her a new name as well: she is now Sarah — princess — a name joined to the promise that she will become a mother of nations. The promise sounds so impossible that, overhearing it at the tent entrance, she laughs to herself; a woman of ninety is being promised a birth. Yet the word comes true: Sarah conceives and Isaac is born, his very name a reminder of that laughter. This time she laughs differently, with joy, saying that everyone who hears of it will laugh with her. The letter to the Hebrews counts her among the examples of faith: the woman who received strength far beyond her years because she judged the one who had promised to be faithful.
Is Sarah mentioned in the Quran?
The name Sarah is not mentioned by name in the Quran, though Islamic tradition knows her as the wife of Abraham who received the good news of a son. In the Bible, she appears by name in Genesis as Abraham's wife and the mother of Isaac.
Verses where Sarah appears
- Genesis 17:15-16 —
God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother…
- Genesis 21:1-7 —
Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken. Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called his son who was born…
- Hebrews 11:11 —
By faith, even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised.