Genesis 26:7

And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
men	אַנְשֵׁ֤י 'an.Shei	H582	a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural construct
place	הַמָּקוֹם֙ ha.ma.kOm	H4725	properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
asked	וַֽיִּשְׁאֲל֞וּ vai.yish.'a.Lu	H7592	to inquire · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
wife	לְאִשְׁתּ֔וֹ le.'ish.To	H802	a woman · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
said	וַיֹּ֖אמֶר vai.Yo.mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sister	אֲחֹ֣תִי 'a.Cho.ti	H269	a sister (used very widely (like brother) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
feared	יָרֵא֙ ya.Re'	H3372	to fear · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
say	לֵאמֹ֣ר le.Mor	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
wife	אִשְׁתִּ֔י 'ish.Ti	H802	a woman · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
men	אַנְשֵׁ֤י 'an.Shei	H582	a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural construct
place	הַמָּקוֹם֙ ha.ma.kOm	H4725	properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
kill	יַֽהַרְגֻ֜נִי ya.har.Gu.ni	H2026	to smite with deadly intent · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix
Rebekah	רִבְקָ֔ה riv.Kah	H7259	Ribkah · proper noun, a woman's name
fair	טוֹבַ֥ת to.Vat	H2896	good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, feminine singular construct
upon	מַרְאֶ֖ה mar.'Eh	H4758	a view (the act of seeing) · noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.
Genesis 12:13 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.
Genesis 20:2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
Genesis 24:16 And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, a…
Genesis 20:12-13 And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in…
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Colossians 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 26:6-11

Isaac had now laid aside all thoughts of going to Egypt, and, in obedience to the heavenly vision, sets up his staff in Gerar, the country in which he was born (Gen 26:6), yet there he enters into temptation, the same temptation that his good father had been once and again surprised and overcome by, namely, to deny his wife, and to give out that she was his sister. Observe, I. How he sinned, Gen 26:7. Because his wife was handsome, he fancied the Philistines would find some way or other to take him off, that some of them might marry her; and therefore she must pass for his sister. It is an unaccountable thing that both these great and good men should be guilty of so strange a piece of dissim…

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Adam Clarke on Genesis 26:7

He said, She is my sister - It is very strange that in the same place, and in similar circumstances, Isaac should have denied his wife, precisely as his father had done before him! It is natural to ask, Did Abraham never mention this circumstance to his son? Probably be did not, as he was justly ashamed of his weakness on the occasion - the only blot in his character; the son, therefore, not being forewarned, was not armed against the temptation. It may not be well in general for parents to tell their children of their former failings or vices, as this might lessen their authority or respect, and the children might make a bad use of it in extenuation of their own sins. But there are certain…

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John Gill on Genesis 26:7

And the men of the place asked him of his wife,.... The inhabitants of Gerar inquired of Isaac who she was, whether she was his wife or not, or in what relation she stood in to him; this was not a mere civil inquiry, but what arose from the prevalence of lust in them towards her; and yet it was under some restraint, they being not so abandoned to their lusts as to exercise them upon any; not upon a man's wife, the sin of adultery being detestable to them, though that of fornication was made no account of by them: and he said, she is my sister; herein imitating his father Abraham in his infirmity and unbelief, who in the same place had made such an answer to a like question concerning Sarah,…

The Church Fathers

Those who assert that sometimes we must lie make inappropriate mention of Abraham as having lied about Sarah whom he called his sister. For he did not say "She is not my wife" but "She is my sister," because Sarah was in fact of a family so closely related that without lying she could be called his sister. This fact Abraham confirmed afterward when Sarah was returned by him who had led her away. Abraham replied to him, saying, "Also she is truly my sister, the daughter of my father, and not the daughter of my mother," that is to say, belonging to his father's family but not to his mother's. Thus he concealed something of the truth but did not say anything false in concealing the fact that she was his wife and in saying that she was his sister. His son Isaac also did this, for we know that he too chose a relative of his as wife. Hence it is not a lie when truth is passed over in silence but when falsehood is brought forth in speech.
— Augustine of Hippo, Against Lying 10.23

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Abimelech — My father a king, or father of a king, a common name of the Philistine kings, as “Pharaoh” was of the Egyptian kings. (1.) The Philistine king of Gerar in the time of Abraham (Gen. 20:1-18). By an…
Rebekah — A noose, the daughter of Bethuel, and the wife of Isaac (Gen. 22:23; 24:67). The circumstances under which Abraham’s “steward” found her at the “city of Nahor,” in Padan-aram, are narrated in Gen.…
Cowardice · . — .
Deception · . — .
Doubting · EXEMPLIFIED — EXEMPLIFIED
Isaac · .Lives in Gerar — .Lives in Gerar
Rebekah (Rebecca) · Passes as — Passes as

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Genesis 26:7 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary

Genesis 26:7

And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
men	אַנְשֵׁ֤י 'an.Shei	H582	a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural construct
place	הַמָּקוֹם֙ ha.ma.kOm	H4725	properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
asked	וַֽיִּשְׁאֲל֞וּ vai.yish.'a.Lu	H7592	to inquire · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
wife	לְאִשְׁתּ֔וֹ le.'ish.To	H802	a woman · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
said	וַיֹּ֖אמֶר vai.Yo.mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sister	אֲחֹ֣תִי 'a.Cho.ti	H269	a sister (used very widely (like brother) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
feared	יָרֵא֙ ya.Re'	H3372	to fear · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
say	לֵאמֹ֣ר le.Mor	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
wife	אִשְׁתִּ֔י 'ish.Ti	H802	a woman · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
men	אַנְשֵׁ֤י 'an.Shei	H582	a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural construct
place	הַמָּקוֹם֙ ha.ma.kOm	H4725	properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
kill	יַֽהַרְגֻ֜נִי ya.har.Gu.ni	H2026	to smite with deadly intent · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix
Rebekah	רִבְקָ֔ה riv.Kah	H7259	Ribkah · proper noun, a woman's name
fair	טוֹבַ֥ת to.Vat	H2896	good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, feminine singular construct
upon	מַרְאֶ֖ה mar.'Eh	H4758	a view (the act of seeing) · noun, common masculine singular absolute

Cross-references

Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.
Genesis 12:13 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.
Genesis 20:2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
Genesis 24:16 And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, a…
Genesis 20:12-13 And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in…
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Colossians 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 26:6-11

Read the whole note in the console

Adam Clarke on Genesis 26:7

Read the whole note in the console

John Gill on Genesis 26:7

The Church Fathers

Those who assert that sometimes we must lie make inappropriate mention of Abraham as having lied about Sarah whom he called his sister. For he did not say "She is not my wife" but "She is my sister," because Sarah was in fact of a family so closely related that without lying she could be called his sister. This fact Abraham confirmed afterward when Sarah was returned by him who had led her away. Abraham replied to him, saying, "Also she is truly my sister, the daughter of my father, and not the daughter of my mother," that is to say, belonging to his father's family but not to his mother's. Thus he concealed something of the truth but did not say anything false in concealing the fact that she was his wife and in saying that she was his sister. His son Isaac also did this, for we know that he too chose a relative of his as wife. Hence it is not a lie when truth is passed over in silence but when falsehood is brought forth in speech.
— Augustine of Hippo, Against Lying 10.23

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Abimelech — My father a king, or father of a king, a common name of the Philistine kings, as “Pharaoh” was of the Egyptian kings. (1.) The Philistine king of Gerar in the time of Abraham (Gen. 20:1-18). By an…
Rebekah — A noose, the daughter of Bethuel, and the wife of Isaac (Gen. 22:23; 24:67). The circumstances under which Abraham’s “steward” found her at the “city of Nahor,” in Padan-aram, are narrated in Gen.…
Cowardice · . — .
Deception · . — .
Doubting · EXEMPLIFIED — EXEMPLIFIED
Isaac · .Lives in Gerar — .Lives in Gerar
Rebekah (Rebecca) · Passes as — Passes as

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Genesis 26:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 26:6-11

Adam Clarke on Genesis 26:7

John Gill on Genesis 26:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 26:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 26:6-11

Adam Clarke on Genesis 26:7

John Gill on Genesis 26:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Genesis 26:7

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 26:6-11

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 26:6-11