Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
Parallel translations
- KJV And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.
- BSB So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
- NKJV So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
- NASB So Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death.”
- NLT Then Abimelech issued a public proclamation: “Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be put to death!”
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
Abimelech places Isaac and Rebekah under royal protection, threatening death to anyone who harms them.
Overview
Though Isaac feared death, God turns the situation so that the king himself shields the couple. This providential protection fulfills God's earlier promise to be with Isaac (v. 3). It illustrates that the Lord guards His covenant line even through the decrees of foreign rulers, advancing His plan that would culminate in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Ps 105:15“Don’t touch my anointed ones! Do my prophets no harm!”
- Gen 20:6God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didn’t allow you to touch her.
- Prov 6:29So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.
- Zech 2:8For Yahweh of Armies says: ‘For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 26:11 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.