Genesis 26:11
in Genesis 26So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Abimelech charged all the people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.
KJV
And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.
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This verse in Genesis 26
Commentary
7 notes on this verseHe that toucheth - He who injures Isaac or defiles Rebekah shall certainly die for it. Death was the punishment for adultery among the Canaanites, Philistines, and Hebrews. See Gen 38:24.
This site's exposition
What is this you have done to us?
on Genesis 26:10-11
This is the third time a pagan king rebukes a patriarch, after Pharaoh in chapter 12 and this king's namesake in chapter 20. Each time the man outside the covenant states the moral case. Abimelech then puts the couple under a decree of death for anyone who harms them. The protection Isaac lied to secure is handed to him openly by the man he lied to.
This site's exposition
Whoever harms this man or his wife
The decree protects both Isaac and his wife. Adam Clarke notes that death was the penalty for adultery among Canaanites, Philistines and Hebrews alike, and points to Judah's sentence on Tamar at 38:24. The king holds the line on marriage that Israel's law later writes down.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
See God's providence; see his ineffable care. The One who had said, "Don't go down into Egypt; stay in this land, and I will be with you," was the one arranging all this and putting the good man in such a safe position. I mean, notice the king going to such trouble to ensure that he could live in peace and be free from all concern. After all, Abimelech threatened them all with death, the text says, "if anyone laid a hand on him or his wife." You see, since it was the fear—of death, I mean—that shook Isaac's resolve, consequently the loving Lord caused him to be rid of it and from then on to live in complete security. See the strange and remarkable thing in the way God, who is creative and wise and transforms everything according to his own wish and finds means where there are none, brings about in every way the security of his servants.Whence was it, after all … that this king showed such care for the good man, as if proclaiming his merits to all the inhabitants of the city and presenting him as a famous person and much admired by himself? In this way too Nebuchadnezzar, after casting the three children in the furnace and learning by experience the invincible power of the young men's virtue, began then to sing their praises and in every way to render them famous by his own tongue. This, after all, is a particular index of the abundance of God's power, when he causes his servants to be celebrated by their enemies. The man who with relish had the furnace lit and then saw that, on account of help from on high, the children's virtue survived even the fire's heat, was all at once changed, and he cried out, "Servants of God the most high."
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
And Abimelech charged all his people,....
Truth is the daughter of time; and, in time, it will out. One sin is often the inlet to many, and therefore the beginnings of sin ought to be avoided. The sins of professors shame them before those that are without.
Truth is the daughter of time; and, in time, it will out. One sin is often the inlet to many, and therefore the beginnings of sin ought to be avoided. The sins of professors shame them before those that are without.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
ויצו, after Avimelech had found out that Rivkah was Yitzchok’s wife, he had to inform the people of this fact to ensure that no one would touch her.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
The word sha’ar means the same as the Rabbinic term shi’ur (estimate, reckon).
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְצַ֣ו | vaytzav | and he commanded | H6680 → | 494 times |
| אֲבִימֶ֔לֶךְ | ʾavimelekh | Abimelech | H40 → | 66 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָעָ֖ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| לֵאמֹ֑ר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| הַנֹּגֵ֜עַ | hanogea' | who [-ever] touches | H5060 → | 150 times |
| בָּאִ֥ישׁ | baish | <in> the man | H376 → | 1663 times |
| הַזֶּ֛ה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| וּבְאִשְׁתּ֖וֹ | uveishto | and <in> wife his | H802 → | 781 times |
| מ֥וֹת | mot | certainly <to die> | H4191 → | 839 times |
| יוּמָֽת׃ | yumat | he will be put to death | H4191 → | 839 times |
וַיְצַ֣וand he commanded
vaytzavH6680 →494 times
אֲבִימֶ֔לֶךְAbimelech
ʾavimelekhH40 →66 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הָעָ֖םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
לֵאמֹ֑ר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
הַנֹּגֵ֜עַwho [-ever] touches
hanogea'H5060 →150 times
בָּאִ֥ישׁ<in> the man
baishH376 →1663 times
הַזֶּ֛ה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
וּבְאִשְׁתּ֖וֹand <in> wife his
uveishtoH802 →781 times
מ֥וֹתcertainly <to die>
motH4191 →839 times
יוּמָֽת׃he will be put to death
yumatH4191 →839 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
Psalms 105:15“Do not touch My anointed ones! Do no harm to My prophets!”
it leads to
- Zechariah 2:8
For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “After His Glory has sent Me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye—
- Genesis 20:7
Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet; he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, be aware that you will surely die—you and…
- 1 John 2:27
And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all…
- Zechariah 2:8
Through
Zechariah 2:8For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “After His Glory has sent Me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye—
it leads to
- Psalms 17:8
Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings
- Deuteronomy 32:10
He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.
- John 15:21–23
But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me.
- John 14:26
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.
- Psalms 105:13–15
they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another.
- Psalms 17:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Genesis
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 51.14-15; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.