Genesis 12:11-13

12:11 As he approached ¹  Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, ²  I know that you are a beautiful woman. ³  12:12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive. ⁴  12:13 So tell them ⁵  you are my sister ⁶  so that it may go well ⁷  for me because of you and my life will be spared ⁸  on account of you.”

Genesis 26:7

26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” ⁹  He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, ¹⁰  “The men of this place will kill me to get ¹¹  Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”

Genesis 26:2

26:2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; ¹²  settle down in the land that I will point out to you. ¹³ 

Genesis 19:2

19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night ¹⁴  and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” ¹⁵  “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” ¹⁶ 

Genesis 20:1

Abraham and Abimelech

20:1 Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev ¹⁷  region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident ¹⁸  in Gerar,

Genesis 32:31

32:31 The sun rose ¹⁹  over him as he crossed over Penuel, ²⁰  but ²¹  he was limping because of his hip.

Proverbs 24:16

24:16 Although ²²  a righteous person may fall seven times, he gets up again,

but the wicked will be brought down ²³  by calamity.

Ecclesiastes 7:20

7:20 For ²⁴  there is not one truly ²⁵  righteous person on the earth

who continually does good and never sins.

Galatians 2:11-12

Paul Rebukes Peter

2:11 But when Cephas ²⁶  came to Antioch, ²⁷  I opposed him to his face, because he had clearly done wrong. ²⁸  2:12 Until ²⁹  certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this ³⁰  and separated himself ³¹  because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision. ³² 

Ephesians 4:25

4:25 Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, ³³  for we are members of one another.

Colossians 3:9

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

[12:11]  ¹ tn Heb “drew near to enter.”

[12:11]  ² tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) is deictic here; it draws attention to the following fact.

[12:11]  ³ tn Heb “a woman beautiful of appearance are you.”

[12:12]  ⁴ tn The Piel of the verb חָיָה (khayah, “to live”) means “to keep alive, to preserve alive,” and in some places “to make alive.” See D. Marcus, “The Verb ‘to Live’ in Ugaritic,” JSS 17 (1972): 76-82.

[12:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “say.”

[12:13]  ⁶ 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.

[12:13]  ⁷ 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.

[12:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “and my life will live.”

[26:7]  ⁹ sn Rebekah, unlike Sarah, was not actually her husband’s sister.

[26:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lest.” The words “for he thought to himself” are supplied because the next clause is written with a first person pronoun, showing that Isaac was saying or thinking this.

[26:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “kill me on account of.”

[26:2]  ¹² sn Do not go down to Egypt. The words echo Gen 12:10, which reports that “Abram went down to Egypt,” but state the opposite.

[26:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “say to you.”

[19:2]  ¹⁴ tn The imperatives have the force of invitation.

[19:2]  ¹⁵ tn These two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “you can rise up early and go” means “you can go early.”

[19:2]  ¹⁶ sn The town square refers to the wide street area at the gate complex of the city.

[20:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the South [country]”; Heb “the land of the Negev.”

[20:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he sojourned.”

[32:31]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “shone.”

[32:31]  ²⁰ sn The name is spelled Penuel here, apparently a variant spelling of Peniel (see v. 30).

[32:31]  ²¹ tn The disjunctive clause draws attention to an important fact: He may have crossed the stream, but he was limping.

[24:16]  ²² tn The clause beginning with כִּי (ki) could be interpreted as causal or conditional; but in view of the significance of the next clause it seems better to take it as a concessive clause (“although”). Its verb then receives a modal nuance of possibility. The apodosis is then “and he rises up,” which could be a participle or a perfect tense; although he may fall, he gets up (or, will get up).

[24:16]  ²³ tn The verb could be translated with an English present tense (“are brought down,” so NIV) to express what happens to the wicked in this life; but since the saying warns against being like the wicked, their destruction is more likely directed to the future.

[7:20]  ²⁴ tn The introductory particle כִּי (ki) is rendered variously: “for” (KJV); “indeed” (NASB); not translated (NIV); “for” (NJPS). The particle functions in an explanatory sense, explaining the need for wisdom in v. 19. Righteousness alone cannot always protect a person from calamity (7:15-16); therefore, something additional, such as wisdom, is needed. The need for wisdom as protection from calamity is particularly evident in the light of the fact that no one is truly righteous (7:19-20).

[7:20]  ²⁵ tn The term “truly” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity. Qoheleth does not deny the existence of some people who are relatively righteous.

[2:11]  ²⁶ sn Cephas. This individual is generally identified with the Apostle Peter (L&N 93.211).

[2:11]  ²⁷ map For location see JP1 F2; JP2 F2; JP3 F2; JP4 F2.

[2:11]  ²⁸ tn Grk “because he stood condemned.”

[2:12]  ²⁹ tn The conjunction γάρ has not been translated here.

[2:12]  ³⁰ tn Grk “he drew back.” If ἑαυτόν (Jeauton) goes with both ὑπέστελλεν (Jupestellen) and ἀφώριζεν (afwrizen) rather than only the latter, the meaning would be “he drew himself back” (see BDAG 1041 s.v. ὑποστέλλω 1.a).

[2:12]  ³¹ tn Or “and held himself aloof.”

[2:12]  ³² tn Grk “the [ones] of the circumcision,” that is, the group of Jewish Christians who insisted on circumcision of Gentiles before they could become Christians.

[4:25]  ³³ sn A quotation from Zech 8:16.