Kejadian 12:9

12:9 Abram continually journeyed by stages ¹  down to the Negev. ² 

Kejadian 12:13

12:13 So tell them ³  you are my sister ⁴  so that it may go well ⁵  for me because of you and my life will be spared ⁶  on account of you.”

Kejadian 12:16-17

12:16 and he did treat Abram well ⁷  on account of her. Abram received ⁸  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 ⁹  because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

Kejadian 13:1

Abram’s Solution to the Strife

13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. ¹⁰  He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. ¹¹ 

[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].”

[12:9]  sn Negev is the name for the southern desert region in the land of Canaan.

[12:13]  ³ tn Heb “say.”

[12:13]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “and my life will live.”

[12:16]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “and there was to him.”

[12:17]  ⁹ tn The cognate accusative adds emphasis to the verbal sentence: “he plagued with great plagues,” meaning the Lord inflicted numerous plagues, probably diseases (see Exod 15:26). The adjective “great” emphasizes that the plagues were severe and overwhelming.

[13:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “the South [country]” (also in v. 3).

[13:1]  sn Negev is the name for the southern desert region in the land of Canaan.

[13:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all which was his, and Lot with him, to the Negev.”