Discovery BoxGenesis 12:9-20
Context12:9 Abram continually journeyed by stages 1 down to the Negev. 2
12:10 There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt 3 to stay for a while 4 because the famine was severe. 5 12:11 As he approached 6 Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, 7 I know that you are a beautiful woman. 8 12:12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive. 9 12:13 So tell them 10 you are my sister 11 so that it may go well 12 for me because of you and my life will be spared 13 on account of you.”
12:14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 12:15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram’s wife 14 was taken 15 into the household of Pharaoh, 16 12:16 and he did treat Abram well 17 on account of her. Abram received 18 sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
12:17 But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases 19 because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 12:18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What is this 20 you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife? 12:19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her 21 to be my wife? 22 Here is your wife! 23 Take her and go!” 24 12:20 Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, 25 and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions.
Genesis 20:1
Context20:1 Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev 26 region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident 27 in Gerar,
Genesis 21:33
Context21:33 Abraham 28 planted a tamarisk tree 29 in Beer Sheba. There he worshiped the Lord, 30 the eternal God.
Joshua 10:40
Context10:40 Joshua defeated the whole land, including the hill country, the Negev, the lowlands, 31 the slopes, and all their kings. He left no survivors. He annihilated everything that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel had commanded.
Joshua 18:5
Context18:5 Divide it into seven regions. 32 Judah will stay 33 in its territory in the south, and the family 34 of Joseph in its territory in the north.
Joshua 18:1
Context18:1 The entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh and there they set up the tent of meeting. 35 Though they had subdued the land, 36
Joshua 1:10
Context1:10 Joshua instructed 37 the leaders of the people:
Joshua 1:2
Context1:2 “Moses my servant is dead. Get ready! 38 Cross the Jordan River! 39 Lead these people into the land which I am ready to hand over to them. 40
Joshua 24:7
Context24:7 Your fathers 41 cried out for help to the Lord; he made the area between you and the Egyptians dark, 42 and then drowned them in the sea. 43 You witnessed with your very own eyes 44 what I did in Egypt. You lived in the wilderness for a long time. 45
[12:9] 1 tn The Hebrew verb נָסַע (nasa’) means “to journey”; more specifically it means to pull up the tent and move to another place. The construction here uses the preterite of this verb with its infinitive absolute to stress the activity of traveling. But it also adds the infinitive absolute of הָלַךְ (halakh) to stress that the traveling was continually going on. Thus “Abram journeyed, going and journeying” becomes “Abram continually journeyed by stages.”
[12:9] 2 tn Or “the South [country].”
[12:10] 3 sn Abram went down to Egypt. The Abrahamic narrative foreshadows some of the events in the life of the nation of Israel. This sojourn in Egypt is typological of Israel’s bondage there. In both stories there is a famine that forces the family to Egypt, death is a danger to the males while the females are preserved alive, great plagues bring about their departure, there is a summons to stand before Pharaoh, and there is a return to the land of Canaan with great wealth.
[12:10] 4 tn The Hebrew verb גּוּר (gur), traditionally rendered “to sojourn,” means “to stay for a while.” The “stranger” (traditionally “sojourner”) is one who is a temporary resident, a visitor, one who is passing through. Abram had no intention of settling down in Egypt or owning property. He was only there to wait out the famine.
[12:10] 5 tn Heb “heavy in the land.” The words “in the land,” which also occur at the beginning of the verse in the Hebrew text, have not been repeated here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[12:11] 6 tn Heb “drew near to enter.”
[12:11] 7 tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) is deictic here; it draws attention to the following fact.
[12:11] 8 tn Heb “a woman beautiful of appearance are you.”
[12:12] 9 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] 11 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] 12 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] 13 tn Heb “and my life will live.”
[12:15] 14 tn Heb “and the woman.” The word also means “wife”; the Hebrew article can express the possessive pronoun (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 19, §86). Here the proper name (Abram) has been used in the translation instead of a possessive pronoun (“his”) for clarity.
[12:15] 15 tn The Hebrew term וַתֻּקַּח (vattuqqakh, “was taken”) is a rare verbal form, an old Qal passive preterite from the verb “to take.” It is pointed as a Hophal would be by the Masoretes, but does not have a Hophal meaning.
[12:15] 16 tn The Hebrew text simply has “house of Pharaoh.” The word “house” refers to the household in general, more specifically to the royal harem.
[12:16] 17 sn He did treat Abram well. The construction of the parenthetical disjunctive clause, beginning with the conjunction on the prepositional phrase, draws attention to the irony of the story. Abram wanted Sarai to lie “so that it would go well” with him. Though he lost Sarai to Pharaoh, it did go well for him – he received a lavish bride price. See also G. W. Coats, “Despoiling the Egyptians,” VT 18 (1968): 450-57.
[12:16] 18 tn Heb “and there was to him.”
[12:17] 19 tn The cognate accusative adds emphasis to the verbal sentence: “he plagued with great plagues,” meaning the
[12:18] 20 tn The demonstrative pronoun translated “this” adds emphasis: “What in the world have you done to me?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).
[12:19] 21 tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive here expresses consequence.
[12:19] 22 tn Heb “to me for a wife.”
[12:19] 23 tn Heb “Look, your wife!”
[12:19] 24 tn Heb “take and go.”
[12:20] 25 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[20:1] 26 tn Or “the South [country]”; Heb “the land of the Negev.”
[20:1] 27 tn Heb “and he sojourned.”
[21:33] 28 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[21:33] 29 sn The planting of the tamarisk tree is a sign of Abraham’s intent to stay there for a long time, not a religious act. A growing tree in the Negev would be a lasting witness to God’s provision of water.
[21:33] 30 tn Heb “he called there in the name of the
[10:40] 31 tn Or “foothills”; Heb “the Shephelah.”
[18:1] 35 tn Heb “the tent of assembly.”
[18:1] 36 tn Heb “and the land was subdued before them.”
[1:2] 39 tn Heb “this Jordan”; the word “River” has been supplied in the translation for clarity (likewise in v. 11).
[1:2] 40 tc Heb “Cross over this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land that I am giving to them, to the children of Israel.” The final phrase, “to the children of Israel,” is probably a later scribal addition specifying the identity of “these people/them.”
[24:7] 41 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the fathers) has been specified in the translation for clarity (see the previous verse).
[24:7] 42 tn Or “put darkness between you and the Egyptians.”
[24:7] 43 tn Heb “and he brought over them the sea and covered them.”
