Genesis 12:14

Summary

The verse narrates that when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman and perceived that she was very beautiful. The sentence sets up the temporal frame ("when Abram entered") before shifting to the Egyptians' perception of Sarai's beauty.

Key words

• va-yehi ("and it was", H1961) — the narrative vav plus the qal verb opens the clause with the classic Hebrew storytelling formula "and it came to pass," signaling a new narrative beat.
• ke-vo ("when he entered", H0935G) — the infinitive form after the preposition ke ("when") creates a temporal clause: "in Abram's entering," i.e., "when Abram entered."
• va-yir'u ("and they saw", H7200G) — a second narrative vav construction, this one plural, moving the action to the Egyptians as the new subject.
• ki-yafah hi ("that she [was] beautiful", H3588A + H3303 + H1931) — the particle ki introduces the content of what was seen; yafah is a feminine adjective agreeing with ha-ishah ("the woman"), and the independent pronoun hi ("she") reinforces the subject explicitly, adding emphasis.
• me'od ("very", H3966) — placed at the very end of the clause, this intensifier caps the description of beauty, giving it emphatic final position in the sentence.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built in two narrative movements joined by the va- (narrative vav) chains: first va-yehi ke-vo Avram Mitzraymah ("and it was, when Abram entered Egypt"), then va-yir'u ha-Mitzrim et-ha-ishah ("and the Egyptians saw the woman"). The first movement uses an infinitive construct (Vo') governed by the preposition ke to mark simultaneity or immediacy — the seeing happens closely tied to the entering, not necessarily immediately but as the narrative's next reported event.

The object of sight, ha-ishah ("the woman"), is marked by the direct object particle 'et, which itself carries no independent meaning but signals the definite direct object in Hebrew syntax. What the Egyptians perceive is introduced by ki ("that"), which here functions to report the content of their observation: yafah hi me'od ("she [was] beautiful, very"). The adjective yafah precedes its subject pronoun hi, a common construction in Hebrew for stating a quality, and the intensifier me'od stands at the very end, giving weight to the degree of beauty rather than merely its presence.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text does not name Sarai in this verse, referring to her only as ha-ishah ("the woman", H0802G). The Vulgate similarly uses "mulierem" ("the woman"), and the LXX uses "τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ" ("his wife"), adding the possessive "his" (αὐτοῦ) not present in the Hebrew wording of this verse. The SBLIBRE Spanish translation renders the referent by the proper name "Saray," which does not appear in the Hebrew of this verse either.