Genesis 12:14

14 It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.

Genesis 12:14 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 12:14

And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt,
&c.] To the city of Heliopolis; for there it was that Abram had his abode, as Eupolemus F18 says, when upon the famine he went into Egypt, and where he conversed with the Egyptian priests, and taught them astrology, and other things belonging to it; and of this descent of Abram into Egypt, and teaching astrology, Artapanus F19, another Heathen writer, speaks; Abram, he says, having learned the science of astrology, went first into Phoenicia and taught it the Phoenicians, and afterwards went into Egypt, and taught it there.

[The] Egyptians beheld the woman, that she was very fair;
Abram knew that Sarai was a fair woman; but in the eyes of the Egyptians she was very fair, exceeding fair, they not being used to see very beautiful women.


FOOTNOTES:

F18 Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praepar. Evangel. c. 17. p. 418, 419.)
F19 Apud ib. c. 18. p. 420.

Genesis 12:14 In-Context

12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife '; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.
13 "Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you."
14 It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
15 Pharaoh's officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
16 Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Lit "saw the woman that she was"
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.  All rights reserved.