Genesis 12:19
in Genesis 12Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
why saidst thou, She is my sister, so that I took her to be my wife? now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
KJV
Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
⋯
This verse in Genesis 12
Commentary
7 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.
This site's exposition
Take her and go
Chrysostom held that Sarai left Pharaoh's palace untouched, and he gives the LORD the credit. Henry observes that Abram had feared where there was no danger, and that Pharaoh speaks as a king who would have kept away from a wife. Telling the truth would have served Abram better.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
What imagination could adequately conceive amazement at these events? What tongue could manage to express this amazement? A woman dazzling in her beauty is closeted with an Egyptian partner, who is king and tyrant, of such frenzy and incontinent disposition, and yet she leaves his presence untouched, with her peerless chastity intact. Such, you see, God's providence always is, marvelous and surprising. Whenever things are given up as hopeless by human beings, then he personally gives evidence of his invincible power in every circumstance.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
We often fear where no fear is. We fear the fury of the oppressor, as though he were ready to destroy, when really there is no danger, Isa. li. It would have been more for Abram's credit and comfort to have told the truth at first; for, after all, honesty is the best policy.
Why saidst thou, she is my sister?....
We often fear where no fear is. We fear the fury of the oppressor, as though he were ready to destroy, when really there is no danger, Isa. li. It would have been more for Abram's credit and comfort to have told the truth at first; for, after all, honesty is the best policy.
The words behind it
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָמָ֤ה | lamah | <to> why? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אָמַ֙רְתָּ֙ | ʾamarta | did you say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֲחֹ֣תִי | ʾachoti | [is] sister my | H269 → | 114 times |
| הִ֔וא | hi' | she | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| וָאֶקַּ֥ח | vaekach | and I took | H3947 → | 966 times |
| אֹתָ֛הּ | ʾotah | <obj.> her | H853 → | 10935 times |
| לִ֖י | li | for <the> myself | ||
| לְאִשָּׁ֑ה | leishah | to a wife | H802 → | 781 times |
| וְעַתָּ֕ה | veatah | and now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| הִנֵּ֥ה | hineh | here! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| אִשְׁתְּךָ֖ | ʾishtekha | wife your | H802 → | 781 times |
| קַ֥ח | kach | take [her] | H3947 → | 966 times |
| וָלֵֽךְ׃ | valekh | and go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
לָמָ֤ה<to> why?
lamahH4100 →752 times
אָמַ֙רְתָּ֙did you say
ʾamartaH559 →5305 times
אֲחֹ֣תִי[is] sister my
ʾachotiH269 →114 times
הִ֔ואshe
hi'H1931 →1879 times
וָאֶקַּ֥חand I took
vaekachH3947 →966 times
אֹתָ֛הּ<obj.> her
ʾotahH853 →10935 times
לִ֖יfor <the> myself
li
לְאִשָּׁ֑הto a wife
leishahH802 →781 times
וְעַתָּ֕הand now
veatahH6258 →433 times
הִנֵּ֥הhere!
hinehH2009 →843 times
אִשְׁתְּךָ֖wife your
ʾishtekhaH802 →781 times
קַ֥חtake [her]
kachH3947 →966 times
וָלֵֽךְ׃and go
valekhH1980 →1546 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About Genesis
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 32.22; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.