Genesis 12:13

12:13 So tell them ¹  you are my sister ²  so that it may go well ³  for me because of you and my life will be spared ⁴  on account of you.”

Genesis 20:2

20:2 Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.

Genesis 20:5

20:5 Did Abraham ⁵  not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ⁶  ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience ⁷  and with innocent hands!”

Genesis 20:12-13

20:12 What’s more, ⁸  she is indeed my sister, my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter. She became my wife. 20:13 When God made me wander ⁹  from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: ¹⁰  Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”

Proverbs 29:25

29:25 The fear of people ¹¹  becomes ¹²  a snare, ¹³ 

but whoever trusts in the Lord will be set on high. ¹⁴ 

Matthew 10:28

10:28 Do ¹⁵  not be afraid of those who kill the body ¹⁶  but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ¹⁷ 

Ephesians 5:25

5:25 Husbands, love your ¹⁸  wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her

Colossians 3:9

3:9 Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices

¹ tn Heb “say.”

² sn Tell them you are my sister. Abram’s motives may not be as selfish as they appear. He is aware of the danger to the family. His method of dealing with it is deception with a half truth, for Sarai really was his sister – but the Egyptians would not know that. Abram presumably thought that there would be negotiations for a marriage by anyone interested (as Laban does later for his sister Rebekah), giving him time to react. But the plan backfires because Pharaoh does not take the time to negotiate. There is a good deal of literature on the wife-sister issue. See (among others) E. A. Speiser, “The Wife-Sister Motif in the Patriarchal Narratives,” Oriental and Biblical Studies, 62-81; C. J. Mullo-Weir, “The Alleged Hurrian Wife-Sister Motif in Genesis,” GOT 22 (1967-1970): 14-25.

³ tn The Hebrew verb translated “go well” can encompass a whole range of favorable treatment, but the following clause indicates it means here that Abram’s life will be spared.

⁴ tn Heb “and my life will live.”

⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “and she, even she.”

⁷ tn Heb “with the integrity of my heart.”

⁸ tn Heb “but also.”

⁹ tn The Hebrew verb is plural. This may be a case of grammatical agreement with the name for God, which is plural in form. However, when this plural name refers to the one true God, accompanying predicates are usually singular in form. Perhaps Abraham is accommodating his speech to Abimelech’s polytheistic perspective. (See GKC 463 §145.i.) If so, one should translate, “when the gods made me wander.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “This is your loyal deed which you can do for me.”

¹¹ tn Heb “the fear of man.” This uses an objective genitive to describe a situation where fearing what people might do or think controls one’s life. There is no indication in the immediate context that this should be limited only to males, so the translation uses the more generic “people” here.

¹² tn Heb “gives [or yields, or produces]”; NIV “will prove to be.”

¹³ sn “Snare” is an implied comparison; fearing people is like being in a trap – there is no freedom of movement or sense of security.

¹⁴ sn The image of being set on high comes from the military experience of finding a defensible position, a place of safety and security, such as a high wall or a mountain. Trusting in the Lord sets people free and gives them a sense of safety and security (e.g, Prov 10:27; 12:2).

¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

¹⁶ sn Judaism had a similar exhortation in 4 Macc 13:14-15.

¹⁷ sn See the note on the word hell in 5:22.

¹⁸ tn The Greek article has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).