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Sarah

Biblical
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

In the Hebrew Bible, Sarah was Abraham’s wife and the mother of Isaac, symbolizing faith, matriarchy, and covenantal promise.

Detailed Definition
Sarah laughed at God’s promise of a son in old age; she represents matriarchal faith. In poetry, Sarah embodies delayed promise, the dignity of aged motherhood, and the tension between doubt and ultimate belief in divine impossibility.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Genesis 12–23, Sarah’s journey inspires poetry about promise and laughter; Elizabeth Barrett Browning references Sarah in matriarchal lineage poems; Feminist verse honors Sarah as woman who laughed yet believed; Contemporary poems explore Sarah’s expulsion of Hagar as complex maternal protection; In poems about aging, Sarah’s joy at Isaac’s birth defies impossibility; Educational poems cite Sarah to teach about covenant and faith.
Additional Notes
Sarah, Abraham’s wife and mother of Isaac, laughs at God’s promise due to her age but becomes the matriarch of nations; her journey from doubt to fulfillment models faith’s evolution; poets use her to explore barrenness, promise, and the dignity of aged womanhood.
Also Known As
Sarah wife of Abraham Sarai
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