Genesis 12:18
in Genesis 12So Pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
KJV
And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
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This verse in Genesis 12
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Here is a most humiliating rebuke, and Abram deserved it. Had not God interfered, he might have been tempted to stay in Egypt and forget the promise (Ps 105:13, 15). Often still does God rebuke His people and remind them through enemies that this world is not their rest.
This site's exposition
What have you done to me
on Genesis 12:18-20
The rebuke in this chapter comes from Pharaoh, and it is aimed at the man God had called. Pharaoh asks three questions and gives one order, take her and go. Abram answers nothing, and Scripture records no word from him here. Pharaoh's men send him out of Egypt with his wife and all he owned.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Note that the severity of the punishment depressed his thinking, to the extent of leading him to offer an excuse to the just man and show signs of every care for him. And yet had God's grace not been active in appeasing his mind and instilling fear into him, the consequence would have been that he would have flown into an even worse temper to the extent of attempting to even the score with his deceiver, the just man, wreaking his vengeance on him and bringing him to the ultimate peril. He did none of this, however. Fear quenched the fire of his anger. His one concern was to show signs of care for the just man. He now knew, you see, that it was impossible that this could be an unimportant man if he enjoyed such marvelous favor from on high.
The Medieval Church1 voice
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 Awakening3 voices
What is this that thou hast done? - What an ill thing; how unbecoming a wife and good man! Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? - Intimating, that if he had known that, he would not have taken her. It is a fault, too common among good people, to entertain suspicions of others beyond what there is cause for.
What is this that thou hast done? - What an ill thing; how unbecoming a wife and good man! Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? - Intimating, that if he had known that, he would not have taken her. It is a fault, too common among good people, to entertain suspicions of others beyond what there is cause for.
And Pharaoh called Abram, and said,....
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Here is a most humiliating rebuke, and Abram deserved it. Had not God interfered, he might have been tempted to stay in Egypt and forget the promise (Ps 105:13, 15). Often still does God rebuke His people and remind them through enemies that this world is not their rest.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּקְרָ֤א | vaiyikra' | and he summoned | H7121 → | 733 times |
| פַרְעֹה֙ | faroh | Pharaoh | H6547 → | 274 times |
| לְאַבְרָ֔ם | leavram | <to> Abram | H87 → | 61 times |
| וַיֹּ֕אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| זֹּ֖את | zot | this | H2063 → | 603 times |
| עָשִׂ֣יתָ | ʾasita | have you done | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| לִּ֑י | li | to <the> me | ||
| לָ֚מָּה | lamah | <to> why? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| הִגַּ֣דְתָּ | higadta | did you tell | H5046 → | 370 times |
| לִּ֔י | li | to <the> me | ||
| כִּ֥י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אִשְׁתְּךָ֖ | ʾishtekha | [was] wife your | H802 → | 781 times |
| הִֽוא׃ | hi' | she | H1931 → | 1879 times |
וַיִּקְרָ֤אand he summoned
vaiyikra'H7121 →733 times
פַרְעֹה֙Pharaoh
farohH6547 →274 times
לְאַבְרָ֔ם<to> Abram
leavramH87 →61 times
וַיֹּ֕אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
זֹּ֖אתthis
zotH2063 →603 times
עָשִׂ֣יתָhave you done
ʾasitaH6213 →2628 times
לִּ֑יto <the> me
li
לָ֚מָּה<to> why?
lamahH4100 →752 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
הִגַּ֣דְתָּdid you tell
higadtaH5046 →370 times
לִּ֔יto <the> me
li
כִּ֥יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
אִשְׁתְּךָ֖[was] wife your
ʾishtekhaH802 →781 times
הִֽוא׃she
hi'H1931 →1879 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Proverbs 21:1The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases.
it leads to
- Proverbs 16:9
A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
- Ezra 6:22
For seven days they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread with joy, because the LORD had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to strengthen their hands…
- Proverbs 20:24
A man’s steps are from the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?
- Acts 7:10
and rescued him from all his troubles. He granted Joseph favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household.
- Proverbs 16:1
The plans of the heart belong to man, but the reply of the tongue is from the LORD.
- Proverbs 16:9
Through
Genesis 3:13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 11:3
I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
- 1 Timothy 2:14
And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression.
- Genesis 4:10–12
“What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About Genesis
This page draws on Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 32.21; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; 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.