the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Genesis 12:17
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But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
And Yahweh plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
But the Lord sent terrible diseases on the king and all the people in his house because of Abram's wife Sarai.
But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
And the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
Yahweh plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
Forsothe the Lord beet Farao and his hous with moste veniaunces, for Saray, the wijf of Abram.
And Jehovah plagueth Pharaoh and his house -- great plagues -- for the matter of Sarai, Abram's wife.
The LORD, however, afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram's wife Sarai.
Because of Sarai, the Lord struck the king and everyone in his palace with terrible diseases.
But Adonai inflicted great plagues on Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai Avram's wife.
And Jehovah plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
And the Lord sent great troubles on Pharaoh's house because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
But the Lorde plagued Pharao and his house with great plagues, because of Sarai Abrams wyfe.
And Jehovah plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.
Pharaoh took Abram's wife, so the Lord caused Pharaoh and all the people in his house to have very bad diseases.
And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.
And the LORD plagued Pharaoh & his house with great plagues, because of Sarai Abrams wife.
And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.
But the Lord sent much sickness upon Pharaoh and his house because of Abram's wife Sarai.
But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
And Yahweh plagued Pharaoh with great plagues, also his house, - for the matter of Sarai, wife of Abram.
But the Lorde plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, because of Sarai Abrams wife.
And the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his household with great plagues because of Sarai, Abrams wife.
But because the king had taken Sarai, the Lord sent terrible diseases on him and on the people of his palace.
But the Lord scourged Pharao and his house with most grievous stripes for Sarai, Abram’s wife.
But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sar'ai, Abram's wife.
And God afflicted Pharao with great and severe afflictions, and his house, because of Sara, Abram’s wife.
And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.
But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai.
The LORD plagued Par`oh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Avram's wife.
Then Yahweh afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues on account of the matter of Sarai the wife of Abram.
And Jehovah touched Pharaoh and his house with great plagues on the word of Sarai, Abram's wife.
But ye LORDE plaged Pharao & his house wt greate plages, because of Sarai Abras wife.
But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
But the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
But the Lord sent terrible plagues upon Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
But Yahweh struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Genesis 20:18, 1 Chronicles 16:21, 1 Chronicles 21:22, Job 34:19, Psalms 105:14, Psalms 105:15, Hebrews 13:4
Reciprocal: Genesis 20:7 - surely Mark 3:10 - as many
Cross-References
And when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful.
Pharaoh's princes (officials) also saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken [for the purpose of marriage] into Pharaoh's house (harem).
for the LORD had securely closed the wombs of all [the women] in Abimelech's household because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
He allowed no man to oppress or exploit them, And, He reproved and punished kings for their sakes, saying,
Then David said to Ornan, "Give me the site of this threshing floor, so that I may build an altar on it to the LORD. You shall charge me the full price for it, so that the plague may be averted from the people."
"Who is not partial to princes, Nor does He regard the rich above the poor, For they all are the work of His hands.
Marriage is to be held in honor among all [that is, regarded as something of great value], and the marriage bed undefiled [by immorality or by any sexual sin]; for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues,.... Perhaps with the same sort that Abimelech and his servants were smote with on a like account, Genesis 20:17. The Jews h say they were smitten with ulcers; not only Pharaoh was plagued, but those of his household also, his courtiers and servants, who were accessary to the bringing of Sarai into his house; for all this was
because of Sarai, Abram's wife; or "upon the word of Sarai" i, as it may be literally rendered: hence the Jews have a notion, that an angel stood by Sarai with a scourge in his hand, and when Sarai bid him smite Pharaoh, he smote him k; but ××ר signifies not a word only, but thing, matter and business: and so Onkelos renders it here: and the sense is, that Pharaoh and his courtiers were smitten, because of the affair and business of Sarai; because she was taken by them, and detained in Pharaoh's house, and designed to be made his wife or concubine; and thus for evil intentions was this punishment inflicted; so that evil designs, not brought into execution, are punishable; though the word of Sarai may mean what she was bid to say, and did.
h Jarchi in loc. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 41. fol. 35. 4. i ×¢× ××ר ×©×¨× "propter verbum Sarai", Montanus; "super verbo", Munster, Piscator. k Jarchi in loc. Bereshit Rabba, ut supra. (sect. 41. fol. 35. 4.)
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 12:17. The Lord plagued Pharaoh — What these plagues were we know not. In the parallel case, Genesis 20:18, all the females in the family of Abimelech, who had taken Sarah in nearly the same way, were made barren; possibly this might have been the case here; yet much more seems to be signified by the expression great plagues. Whatever these plagues were, it is evident they were understood by Pharaoh as proofs of the disapprobation of God; and, consequently, even at this time in Egypt there was some knowledge of the primitive and true religion.
