¹⁷ Abraham fell facedown;^(A) he laughed^(B) and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old?^(C) Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”^(D)

¹⁸ Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this?^(A) I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”^(B)

¹⁹ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead^(A)—since he was about a hundred years old^(B)—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.^(C)

¹¹ And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age,^(A) was enabled to bear children^(B) because she^[a] considered him faithful^(C) who had made the promise.

¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead,^(A) came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.^(B)

¹⁹ Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead,^(A) and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.