What Does Genesis 21:9 Mean in the King James?
And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
“Mocking” comes from the same Hebrew root as Isaac’s name, so this verse holds laughter’s promise and laughter’s contempt in one word family.
THE MEANING
When laughter lands as mockery, its sound no longer joins people; it becomes a way of belittling. The Hebrew verb shares a root with Isaac’s name, “he laughs,” making this scene hold the tension between laughter as promise and laughter as contempt.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Laughter is not harmless by itself: it can humiliate rather than join.
THE ROOT
מְצַחֵק
metsacheq
GROWS FROM
צחק
tsachaq
To laugh or play; in this context, the word is rendered “mocking.”
The English “mocking” preserves Sarah’s sharp reading, while the Hebrew root also means laugh or play and forms Isaac’s name, “he laughs.” One root carries shared joy, play, and derision; the scene shows how much depends on what the laughter does.
ALSO GROWS
Yitzḥaq: “He laughs,” the name’s traditional sense.
יִצְחָק
Isaac’s name carries the same laughter root, linking the verse’s mocking to laughter associated with the promised son.
tsachaqah: Sarah laughed within herself.
צָחֲקָה
The same root can describe laughter in response to a promise, not only ridicule.
metsacheq: Playing or laughing; the KJV renders this form “sporting.”
מְצַחֵק
This same verbal form can describe play, showing that the root’s range includes more than mockery.
THE PATTERN
Laughter’s visible form does not determine its meaning: it can join people in joy, express play, or become contempt.
And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.THE THREAD
And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.Both verses use צחק (tsachaq, “to laugh or play”): here its form is rendered “mocking,” while in 21:6 Sarah says God has made her laugh and others will laugh with her. The shared root holds derision and shared joy together, while the relationship reveals the difference.
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