ואני זקנתי. מכאן אחז"ל (מציע' פ' השוכר) שמותר לשנות מפני השלום שהיא אמרה ואדוני זקן והקב"ה שינה ואמר ואני זקנתי ואע"ג דלפום ריהטא משמע שגם היא אמרה ואני זקנתי דכתיב אחרי בלותי. י"ל לי יכול להיות תקנה ללדת בנים שהרי אחרי בלותי היתה לי עדנה שהרי פרסתי נדה אבל לבעלי אין תקנה שהרי ואדוני זקן וכן נ"ל דמשמע הלשון היתה לי ולא תהיה. ויש מי שאומר חלילה שישנה המקום שהרי דובר שקרים לא יכון לנגד עיניו וגם היא אמרה ואני זקנתי והוא פירוש אחרי בלותי וגו' בתמי' ושינה מפני השלום שלא ספר כל דבריה אלא קצתם וכל שאר בני אדם מותר לשנות לגמרי. וא"ת מה הקפדה יש לאברהם אם אמרה שהוא זקן י"ל ר"ל שטוחן ואינו פולט: ואני זקנתי, “and I am old.” Our sages base their view that it is permissible sometimes to tell a “white” lie when the purpose is to preserve harmony between husband and wife, based on this verse, where what Sarah obviously meant was that her husband was too old to sire a child, seeing that she herself had experienced rejuvenation. (Talmud, tractate Baba Metzia folio 87). Seeing that she had not said anything aloud about what she thought about her husband, G–d, i.e. His angel, still saw fit to change what she had thought to herself, in order to preserve her image as a dutiful wife respecting her husband’s masculine dignity. Our author bases his interpretation on the use of the word היתה, “was,” instead of תהיה, “will be,” in verse 12. There is however an opinion which does not agree at all that G–d or His angel had changed the words that Sarah had thought but not uttered. It argues that it is totally absurd to argue that anything appearing to us as a lie could have been uttered by G–d or His agent, an angel. The author of that opinion quotes Psalms 101,7: דבר שקרים לא יכון לנגד עיני, “he who speaks untruths shall not stand before My eyes,” in support of his statement. He claims further that what Sarah had (thought) reported as having said was indeed what is quoted by the Torah, i.e. ואני זקנתי, “and I have become old.” These words are to be understood as her wonderment at how she could have become pregnant even in spite of having seen menstrual blood once more, seeing she was way beyond child-bearing age, and had never previously conceived. The angel did not alter her words, he only did not report all of her words. In this manner he prevented any bad feeling on the part of Avraham. Any ordinary person, other than a Divine creature, is permitted to tell white lies in order to preserve שלום בית, family harmony. If you were to argue that Avraham would not have cared, seeing that he was aware that what she thought or said was true, we must assume that he was still trying to impregnate Sarah but had been unsuccessful.