Please say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and on account of you my life will be spared.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you.”
- KJV Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
- NKJV Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”
- NASB Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.”
- NLT So please tell them you are my sister. Then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Abram asked Sarai to call herself his sister to protect himself. This half-truth endangers Sarai and the promise.
Overview
Abram's request, though resting on a partial truth (Sarai was his half-sister, Gen 20:12), is a deception aimed at self-preservation. It places Sarai and thus the promised line in jeopardy. This failure of faith stands as a warning, yet it sets the stage for God's faithful intervention that follows, underscoring that the covenant rests on God's reliability, not Abram's.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Gen 26:7But when the men of that place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” since he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is so beautiful.”
- Gen 20:2Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.
- Gen 20:12–13Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father—though not the daughter of my mother—and she became my wife.
- Gen 20:5Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.”
- Ezek 18:4Behold, every soul belongs to Me; both father and son are Mine. The soul who sins is the one who will die.
- Jer 17:5–8This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
- John 8:44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
- Isa 57:11Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lied and failed to remember Me or take this to heart? Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear Me?
- Ps 146:3–5Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.
- Gen 11:29And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah.
- Rom 3:6–8Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world?
- Gal 2:12–13For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself, for fear of those in the circumcision group.
- Col 3:6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.
- Matt 26:69–75Meanwhile, Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came up to him. “You also were with Jesus the Galilean,” she said.
- Rom 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 12:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.