Genesis 12:11

11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance;

Genesis 12:11 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 12:11

And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into
Egypt
Just entering into it, having travelled from the mountain between Bethel and Hai, two hundred and forty miles ^F16; or when he "caused to come near" ^F17, either his camp, as Aben Ezra supplies it, or his tent, or his family, as others:

that he said unto Sarai his wife, behold now, I know that thou art
a fair woman to look upon;
though sixty five years of age, being ten years younger than her husband, see ( Genesis 17:17 ) who was now seventy five years old, ( Genesis 12:4 ) yet might still be a fair woman, having a good complexion and comely features, and having never bore children, and especially she would be reckoned so among the Egyptians, whose women were of a blackish, sallow, swarthy complexion.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Travels of the Holy Patriarchs p. 56.
F17 (byrqh rvak) "quum admoveret, sub tentorium", so some in Vatablus; "familiam", Munster.

Genesis 12:11 In-Context

9 And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to reside there as an alien, for the famine was severe in the land.

11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance;

12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, "This is his wife'; then they will kill me, but they will let you live.

13 Say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account."