Sarai: Abram’s Wife Before She Became Sarah

Sarai is the first name of Abram’s wife, the woman Genesis calls barren and whose story turns on her Egyptian maid Hagar. These are the pages where I wrote about her under that earlier name.

Barren in Haran

On Genesis 11 – Tower of Babel Sarai first appears as Abram’s wife, and the same chapter adds that Sarai was barren; she had no child. On Abraham and Brahma: Same Name, Same Pattern? I look at her name itself: Sarai is spelled sin, resh, yod, and she later becomes Sarah.

Sarai in Egypt

On Genesis Apocryphon Abram dreams of a cedar tree and a date palm, deduces that Pharaoh will seek to kill him while sparing Sarai, and instructs her to say she is his sister. When Pharaoh takes her, Abram asks God for vengeance, and God sends a spirit to torment Pharaoh and the men of his household. On Genesis 12 – Abram & Sarai I quote verse 17 in the King James text, where the LORD plagues Pharaoh and his house because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. The same page also gives the verse with Elohim YHWH as the one who strikes them.

Sarai and Hagar

Genesis 16 opens with her childlessness and her Egyptian maid. On Genesis 16 – The malʾāḵ provides Hagar with practical advice I quote the verse:

On The later additions of YHWH can often be described as fear-provoking or awe-inducing I point to Genesis 16:5, where Sarai appeals to YHWH to judge between her and Abram. On The Bible: Blend and unify ‘the Gods’ into One Hagar, pregnant and fleeing from Sarai’s harsh treatment, meets God near a spring and gives Him a name. On First Book of God the Oahspe Bible tells the same story: Sarai was barren and prayed to God for Abraham’s sake, and when Hagar bore Ishmael, Sarai was jealous of her.

Related pages

• Genesis 11 – Tower of Babel
• Abraham and Brahma: Same Name, Same Pattern?
• Genesis Apocryphon
• Book of Genesis
• Genesis 12 – Abram & Sarai
• Genesis 16 – The malʾāḵ provides Hagar with practical advice
• The later additions of YHWH can often be described as fear-provoking or awe-inducing
• The Bible: Blend and unify ‘the Gods’ into One
• First Book of God

For every page I tagged with Sarai, see the Sarai tag archive.