the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Genesis 12:13
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- DailyParallel Translations
Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake."
Say, I pray you, you are my sister; that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you.
Tell them you are my sister so that things will go well with me and I may be allowed to live because of you."
So tell them you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you and my life will be spared on account of you."
Say, I pray thee, thou [art] my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you."
Therfor, Y biseche thee, seie thou, that thou art my sistir, that it be wel to me for thee, and that my lijf lyue for loue of thee.
say, I pray thee, thou [art] my sister, so that it is well with me because of thee, and my soul hath lived for thy sake.'
Please say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and on account of you my life will be spared."
Please save my life by saying that you are my sister."
Please say that you are my sister, so that it will go well with me for your sake, and so that I will stay alive because of you."
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister; that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee.
Say, then, that you are my sister, and so it will be well with me because of you, and my life will be kept safe on your account.
Say I pray thee, that thou art my sister, that I may fare well for thy sake, and that my soule may liue through thy occasion.
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me on thy account, and my soul may live because of thee.
So tell them that you are my sister. Then they will be good to me because of you. In this way you will save my life."
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister; that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee.'
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be wel with me, for thy sake; and my soule shall liue, because of thee.
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
Say that you are my sister. Then it may go well with me because of you. And because of you they will not kill me."
Say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account."
Say, I beseech thee that my sister, art thou, - to the end it may be well with me for thy sake, so shall my soul be preserved alive because of thee.
Say, I pray thee, that thou art my sister, that I may fare well for thy sake, & that my life may be preserued by thee.
Say, therefore, that you are my sister because I will be treated well for your sake; and my life shall be spared because of you.
Tell them that you are my sister; then because of you they will let me live and treat me well."
Say, therefore, I pray thee, that thou art my sister: that I may be well used for thee, and that my soul may live for thy sake.
Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account."
Say, therefore, I am his sister, that it may be well with me on account of thee, and my soul shall live because of thee.
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee.
Please say you’re my sister so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.”
Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you."
Please say you are my sister so that it will go well for me on your account. Then I will live on account of you."
Please say that you are my sister, so that it may be well with me for your sake, and my soul shall live because of you.
Therfore (I pray ye) saye thou art my sister, that I maye fare the better by reason of the, and that my soule maye lyue for thy sake.
"Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you, and that I may live on account of you."
Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I [fn] may live because of you."
So please tell them you are my sister. Then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you."
"Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you."
Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you."
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Say: John 8:44, Romans 3:6-8, Romans 6:23, Colossians 3:6
thou: Genesis 11:29, Genesis 20:2, Genesis 20:5, Genesis 20:12, Genesis 20:13, Genesis 26:7, Isaiah 57:11, Matthew 26:69-75, Galatians 2:12, Galatians 2:13
and: Psalms 146:3-5, Jeremiah 17:5-8, Ezekiel 18:4
Reciprocal: Genesis 18:15 - denied Genesis 19:19 - lest some Genesis 19:20 - and my Judges 15:18 - and fall 1 Kings 12:27 - and they shall 1 Kings 19:3 - he arose Romans 4:2 - but Hebrews 7:6 - had
Cross-References
Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai (later called Sarah), and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.
And I will bless (do good for, benefit) those who bless you, And I will curse [that is, subject to My wrath and judgment] the one who curses (despises, dishonors, has contempt for) you. And in you all the families (nations) of the earth will be blessed."
Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had acquired, and the people (servants) which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,
Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the [great] terebinth (oak) tree of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time.
Then he moved on from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD [in worship through prayer, praise, and thanksgiving].
so when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife'; and they will kill me [to acquire you], but they will let you live.
"Please tell them that you are my sister so that things will go well for me for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you."
Abraham said [again] of Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah [into his harem].
"Did Abraham not tell me, 'She is my sister?' And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this."
The men of the place asked him about his wife, and he said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "my wife"—thinking, "the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is very beautiful."
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Say, I pray thee, that thou art my sister,.... Which though it was not putting a direct lie into her mouth, she being his sister in some sense, as appears from Genesis 20:12 yet it was done to conceal truth, and to deceive the Egyptians, and tended to endanger his wife's chastity, as well as showed great timorousness in him, and distrust of the divine care and protection of him; and upon the whole it must be criminal in him, and shows that the best of men are liable to sin, and the strongest believer to fall, and that a saint may fail in the exercise of that grace for which he is most eminent, as Abram was for his faith, and yet fell into unbelief, and through that into other sins; this he said to his wife, and desired her to say on occasion, when she found it necessary:
that it may be well with me for thy sake; his life spared, as follows:
and my soul shall live because of thee; his life be safe and secure for her sake, being reckoned her brother, whereas he feared it would be in the utmost danger should it be known she was his wife.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
- XXXVIII. Abram in Egypt
15. ×¤×¨×¢× parâoh, Parâoh, âouro.â Coptic for âking,â with the masculine article pi. or p. P-ouro, âthe king.â If we separate the article p. from the Hebrew form, we have ×¨×¢× reâoh for king, which may be compared with ×¨×¢× roâeh, âpastor, leader,â and the Latin rex, king. This is the common title of the Egyptian sovereigns, to which we have the personal name occasionally added, as Pharaoh-Necho, Pharaoh-Hophrah.
Genesis 12:10
This first visit of Abram to Mizraim, or Egypt, is occasioned by the famine in the land of promise. This land is watered by periodical rains. A season of drought arrests the progress of vegetation, and brings on a famine. But in Egypt, the fertility of the loamy soil depends not on local showers, but on the annual rise of the Nile, which is fed by the rains of a far-distant mountain range. Hence, when the land of Kenaan was wasted by drought and consequent famine, Egypt was generally so productive as to be the granary of the neighboring countries. As Kenaan was the brother of Mizraim, the contact between the two countries in which they dwelt was natural and frequent. Dry seasons and dearth of provisions seem to have been of frequent occurrence in the land of Kenaan Genesis 26:1; Genesis 41:56-57. Even Egypt itself was not exempt from such calamitous visitations. Famine is one of Godâs rods for the punishment of the wicked and the correction of the penitent 2 Samuel 24:13. It visits Abram even in the land of promise. Doubtless the wickedness of the inhabitants was great even in his day. Abram himself was not out of the need of that tribulation that worketh patience, experience, and hope. He may have been left to himself under this trial, that he might find out by experience his own weakness, and at the same time the faithfulness and omnipotence of Yahweh the promiser. In the moment of his perplexity he flees for refuge to Egypt, and the Lord having a lesson for him, there permits him to enter that land of plenty.
Genesis 12:11-13
It is not without misgivings, however, that Abram approaches Egypt. All the way from Ur to Haran, from Haran to the land of Kenaan, and from north to south of the land in which he was a stranger, we hear not a word of apprehension. But now he betakes himself to an expedient which had been preconcerted between him and Sarai before they set out on their earthly pilgrimage Genesis 20:13. There are some obvious reasons for the change from composure to anxiety he now betrays. Abram was hitherto obeying the voice of the Lord, and walking in the path of duty, and therefore he was full of unhesirating confidence in the divine protection. Now he may be pursuing his own course, and, without waiting patiently for the divine counsel, venturing to cross the boundary of the land of promise. He may therefore be without the fortifying assurance of the divine approval. There is often a whisper of this kind heard in the soul, even when it is not fully conscious of the delinquency which occasions it.
Again, the countries through which be had already passed were inhabited by nomadic tribes, each kept in check by all the others, all unsettled in their habits, and many of them not more potent than himself. The Kenaanites spoke the same language with himself, and were probably only a dominant race among others whose language they spoke, if they did not adopt. But in Egypt all was different. Mizraim had seven sons, and, on the average, the daughters are as numerous as the sons. In eight or nine generations there might be from half a million to a million of inhabitants in Egypt, if we allow five daughters as the average of a family. The definite area of the arable ground on the two sides of the Nile, its fertilization by a natural cause without much human labor, the periodical regularity of the inundation, and the extraordinary abundance of the grain crops, combined both to multiply the population with great rapidity, and to accelerate amazingly the rise and growth of fixed institutions and a stable government. Here there were a settled country with a foreign tongue, a prosperous people, and a powerful sovereign. All this rendered it more perilous to enter Egypt than Kenaan.
If Abram is about to enter Egypt of his own accord, without any divine intimation, it is easy to understand why he resorts to a device of his own to escape the peril of assassination. In an arbitrary government, where the will of the sovereign is law, and the passions are uncontrolled, public or private resolve is sudden, and execution summary. The East still retains its character in this respect. In these circumstances, Abram proposes to Sarai to conceal their marriage, and state that she was his sister; which was perfectly true, as she was the daughter of his father, though not of his mother. At a distance of three or four thousand years, with all the development of mind which a completed Bible and an advanced philosophy can bestow, it is easy to pronounce, with dispassionate coolness, the course of conduct here proposed to be immoral and imprudent. It is not incumbent on us, indeed, to defend it; but neither does it become us to be harsh or excessive in our censure. In the state of manners and customs which then prevailed in Egypt, Abram and Sarai were not certainly bound to disclose all their private concerns to every impertinent inquirer. The seeming simplicity and experience which Abram betrays in seeking to secure his personal safety by an expedient which exposed to risk his wifeâs chastity and his own honor, are not to be pressed too far. The very uncertainty concerning the relation of the strangers to each other tended to abate that momentary caprice in the treatment of individuals which is the result of a despotic government. And the prime fault and folly of Abram consisted in not waiting for the divine direction in leaving the land of promise, and in not committing himself wholly to the divine protection when he did take that step.
It may seem strange that the Scripture contains no express disapprobation of the conduct of Abram. But its manner is to affirm the great principles of moral truth, on suitable occasions, with great clearness and decision; and in ordinary circumstances simply to record the actions of its characters with faithfulness, leaving it to the readerâs intelligence to mark their moral quality. And Godâs mode of teaching the individual is to implant a moral principle in the heart, which, after many struggles with temptation, will eventually root out all lingering aberrations.
Sarai was sixty-five years of age Genesis 17:17 at the time when Abram describes her as a woman fair to look upon. But we are to remember that beauty does not vanish with middle age; that Saraiâs age corresponds with twenty-five or thirty years in modern times, as she was at this time not half the age to which men were then accustomed to live; that she had no family or other hardship to bring on premature decay; and that the women of Egypt were far from being distinguished for regularity of feature or freshness of complexion.
Genesis 12:14-16
The inadequacy of Abramâs expedient appears in the issue, which is different from what he expected. Sarai is admired for her beauty, and, being professedly single, is selected as a wife for Pharaoh; while Abram, as her brother, is munificently entertained and rewarded. His property seems to be enumerated according to the time of acquirement, or the quantity, and not the quality of each kind. Sheep and oxen and he-asses he probably brought with him from Kenaan; men-servants and maid-servants were no doubt augmented in Egypt. For she-asses the Septuagint has mules. These, and the camels, may have been received in Egypt. The camel is the carrier of the desert. Abram had now become involved in perplexities, from which he had neither the wisdom nor the power to extricate himself. With what bitterness of spirit he must have kept silence, received these accessions to his wealth which he dared not to refuse, and allowed Sarai to be removed from his temporary abode! His cunning device had saved his own person for the time; but his beautiful and beloved wife is torn from his bosom.
Genesis 12:17
The Lord, who had chosen him, unworthy though he was, yet not more unworthy than others, to be the agent of His gracious purpose, now interposes to effect his deliverance. âAnd the Lord plagued Pharaoh.â The mode of the divine interference is suited to have the desired effect on the parties concerned. As Pharaoh is punished, we conclude he was guilty in the eye of heaven in this matter. He committed a breach of hospitality by invading the private abode of the stranger. He further infringed the law of equity between man and man in the most tender point, by abstracting, if not with violence, at least with a show of arbitrary power which could not be resisted, a female, whether sister or wife, from the home of her natural guardian without the consent of either. A deed of ruthless self-will, also, is often rendered more heinous by a blamable inattention to the character or position of him who is wronged. So it was with Pharaoh. Abram was a man of blameless life and inoffensive manners. He was, moreover, the chosen and special servant of the Most High God. Pharaoh, however, does not condescend to inquire who the stranger is whom he is about to wrong; and is thus unwittingly involved in an aggravated crime. But the hand of the Almighty brings even tyrants to their senses. âAnd his house.â The princes of Pharaoh were accomplices in his crime Genesis 12:15, and his domestics were concurring with him in carrying it into effect. But even apart from any positive consent or connivance in a particular act, men, otherwise culpable, are brought into trouble in this world by the faults of those with whom they are associated. âOn account of Sarai.â Pharoah was made aware of the cause of the plagues or strokes with which he was now visited.
Genesis 12:18-20
Pharaoh upbraids Abram for his deception, and doubtless not without reason. He then commands his men to dismiss him and his, unharmed, from the country. These men were probably an escort for his safe conduct out of Egypt. Abram was thus reproved through the mouth of Pharaoh, and will be less hasty in abandoning the land of promise, and betaking himself to carnal resources.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Genesis 12:13. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister — Abram did not wish his wife to tell a falsehood, but he wished her to suppress a part of the truth. From Genesis 20:12, it is evident she was his step-sister, i.e., his sister by his father, but by a different mother. Some suppose Sarai was the daughter of Haran, and consequently the grand-daughter of Terah: this opinion seems to be founded on Genesis 11:29, where Iscah is thought to be the same with Sarai, but the supposition has not a sufficiency of probability to support it.
