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Genesis 12:17

in Genesis 12

The LORD, however, afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Jehovah plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

KJV

And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.

This verse in Genesis 12

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

ON ABRAHAM 1.2.7 · Written before 397.

This passage is a great witness and demonstration of the necessity of maintaining chastity, exhorting everyone to show himself chaste, not to long for the bed of another and not to seduce the wife of another, counting on the hope of not being discovered and of going unpunished. It exhorts all not to let themselves be tempted by neglect … or by a prolonged absence. God, the defender of marriage, is present. From him nothing remains hidden, nothing escapes him, and no one can make sport of him.

This site's exposition

afflicted Pharaoh and his household

The LORD strikes Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues, and the reason given is Abram's wife Sarai. Abram has no part in the rescue, and no word of his is recorded here. God moves against a king to protect the line He had promised. Abram is saved by the promise he endangered.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron) · Written before 735.

proposed

And when he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife: "I know that you are a beautiful woman, and that when the Egyptians see you, they will say that you are his wife, and they will kill me and keep you …

The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house - Probably, those princes especially that had commended Sarai to Pharaoh. We are not told, particularly, what these plagues were; but, doubtless, there was something in the plagues themselves, or some explication added to them, sufficient to convince them that it was for Sarai's sake they were thus plagued.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), and inferred from them that Abram was a particular favourite of Heaven, and therefore, through fear of their return, took special care he should receive no injury in his country. Note, God has often raised up friends for his people, by making men know that it is at their peril if they hurt them. It is a dangerous thing to offend Christ's little ones.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house - Probably, those princes especially that had commended Sarai to Pharaoh. We are not told, particularly, what these plagues were; but, doubtless, there was something in the plagues themselves, or some explication added to them, sufficient to convince them that it was for Sarai's sake they were thus plagued.
And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues,.... Perhaps with the same sort that Abimelech and his servants were smote with on a like account, Gen 20:
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

The Lord plagued Pharaoh - What these plagues were we know not. In the parallel case, Gen 20:18, all the females in the family of Abimelech, who had taken Sarah in nearly the same way, were made barren; possibly this might have been the case here; yet much more seems to be signified by the expression great plagues. Whatever these plagues were, it is evident they were understood by Pharaoh as proofs of the disapprobation of God; and, consequently, even at this time in Egypt there was some knowledge of the primitive and true religion.

The words behind it

13 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיְנַגַּ֨עand he struck

    vaynaga'H5060 →150 times

  • יְהוָ֧ה׀Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • פַּרְעֹ֛הPharaoh

    parohH6547 →274 times

  • נְגָעִ֥יםplagues

    negaimH5061 →

  • גְּדֹלִ֖יםgreat

    gedolimH1419 →526 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • בֵּית֑וֹhouse his

    beitoH1004 →2046 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • דְּבַ֥ר[the] matter of

    devarH1697 →1440 times

  • שָׂרַ֖יSarai

    saraiH8297 →17 times

  • אֵ֥שֶׁת[the] wife of

    ʾeshetH802 →781 times

  • אַבְרָֽם׃Abram

    ʾavramH87 →61 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Hebrews 13:4

    Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 2:24

      For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

    • Proverbs 5:15–23

      Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.

    • 1 Corinthians 7:2–16

      But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.

    • Galatians 5:19

      The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;

    • Genesis 1:27–28

      So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

  • Through

    1 Chronicles 16:21

    He let no man oppress them; He rebuked kings on their behalf:

    it leads to

    • Genesis 20:3

      One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”

    • Genesis 31:29

      I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’

    • Exodus 7:15–18

      Go to Pharaoh in the morning as you see him walking out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was…

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

Abraham Goes to the Land of Canaan — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Abraham Goes to the Land of Canaan — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, ON ABRAHAM 1.2.7; Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.