Genesis 16:3 BSB — MannaFest

Genesis 16:3

So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife.

KJV

And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

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Commentary

2 voices

Ambrose of Milan

On Abraham (397)

It was not because he was ablaze with the heat of some unbridled passion, not because he was overcome by the charm of seductive beauty that Abraham gave preference to a relationship with a slave girl over the conjugal bed, but through a desire to procure a posterity and to enlarge his progeny. After the flood the human race was still numerically sparse. Hence it was also a matter of moral obligation that no one be seen to have failed to render the debt to nature.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Abram to be his wife--"Wife" is here used to describe an inferior, though not degrading, relation, in countries where polygamy prevails. In the case of these female slaves, who are the personal property of his lady, being purchased before her marriage or given as a special present to her, no one can become the husband's secondary wife without her mistress consent or permission.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

21 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וַתִּקַּ֞ח	va.ti.Kach	and she took	H3947 →
שָׂרַ֣י	sa.Rai	Sarai	H8297 →
אֵֽשֶׁת־	'e.shet-	[the] wife of	H802 →
אַבְרָ֗ם	'av.Ram	Abram	H87 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
הָגָ֤ר	ha.Gar	Hagar	H1904 →
הַמִּצְרִית֙	ha.mitz.Rit	the Egyptian	H4713 →
שִׁפְחָתָ֔הּ	shif.cha.Tah	maidservant her	H8198 →
מִקֵּץ֙	mi.Ketz	from [the] end of	H7093 →
עֶ֣שֶׂר	'E.ser	ten	H6235 →
שָׁנִ֔ים	sha.Nim	years	H8141 →
לְשֶׁ֥בֶת	le.She.vet	of [the] dwelling of	H3427 →
אַבְרָ֖ם	'av.Ram	Abram	H87 →
בְּאֶ֣רֶץ	be.'E.retz	in [the] land of	H776 →
כְּנָ֑עַן	ke.Na.'an	Canaan	H3667 →
וַתִּתֵּ֥ן	va.ti.Ten	and she gave	H5414 →
אֹתָ֛הּ	'o.Tah	<obj.> her	H853 →
לְאַבְרָ֥ם	le.'av.Ram	to Abram	H87 →
אִישָׁ֖הּ	'i.Shah	husband her	H376 →
ל֥וֹ	lo	of him
לְאִשָּֽׁה׃	le.'i.Shah	to a wife	H802 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Genesis 16:5
Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me…
leads to
- Genesis 31:53
  May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
- Exodus 5:21
  “May the LORD look upon you and judge you,” the foremen said, “for you have made us a stench before Pharaoh and his officials; you have placed in their hand a sword to kill…
Through
2 Samuel 5:13
After he had arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.
leads to
- 1 Chronicles 3:9
  These were all the sons of David, besides the sons by his concubines. And Tamar was their sister.
- Deuteronomy 17:17
  He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.
Through
Galatians 4:25
Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.
leads to
- Psalms 68:17
  The chariots of God are tens of thousands— thousands of thousands are they; the Lord is in His sanctuary as He was at Sinai.
- Galatians 1:17
  nor did I go up to Jerusalem to the apostles who came before me, but I went into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
- Matthew 23:37
  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you…
Through
1 Kings 11:3
He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.
leads to
- 2 Samuel 5:13–16
  After he had arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.

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About Genesis

The Creation of Light — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Genesis: the study guide →Read chapter 16 →The featured study →

Continue: Genesis 16 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Genesis

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Genesis