Genesis 12:11-13
What is written? (ESV)
When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, This is his wife. Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.
What does it say?
When Abram and his wife Sarai were about to enter Egypt, he told her that she was beautiful and the Egyptians would recognize her as his wife. Abram presumed they would want to kill him as a result. As a result, he told her to say that she was his sister so that it would go well with him and his life would be spared.
What is its immediate context?
Abram has just been introduced in the Bible narrative. Born of Terah in Ur of the Chaldeans and married to Sarai (11:31), he has heeded God’s call to “go to a land that I will show you” (vs 1). Genesis 12 begins accounting for a period known as the “Patriarchs”, or the “Patriarchal Dispensation”, beginning with Abraham. Approximately 2,000 years have passed since Creation (Genesis 1).
How Genesis 12:11-13 is applied across Bible answers
Did Abram lie about Sarai?
Abram told his wife Sarai to say that she was his sister instead of letting them assume she was his wife.
