Kejadian 12:13

12:13 So tell them ¹  you are my sister ²  so that it may go well ³  for me because of you and my life will be spared ⁴  on account of you.”

Kejadian 26:15

26:15 So the Philistines took dirt and filled up ⁵  all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.

[12:13]  ¹ tn Heb “say.”

[12:13]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “and my life will live.”

[26:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the Philistines stopped them up and filled them with dirt.”