Genesis 12:19
לָמָה אָמַרְתָּ אֲחֹתִי הִוא וָאֶקַּח אֹתָהּ לִי לְאִשָּׁה וְעַתָּה הִנֵּה אִשְׁתְּךָ קַח וָלֵֽךְ׃
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✦ The same verse in five languages
לָמָ֤ה אָמַ֙רְתָּ֙ אֲחֹ֣תִי הִ֔וא וָאֶקַּ֥ח אֹתָ֛הּ לִ֖י לְאִשָּׁ֑ה וְעַתָּ֕ה הִנֵּ֥ה אִשְׁתְּךָ֖ קַ֥ח וָלֵֽךְ׃
ἵνα τί εἴπας ὅτι μού ἐστιν,. καὶ ἔλαβον αὐτὴν ἐμαυτῷ εἰς γυναῖκα. κα νῦν ἰδοὺ ἡ γυνή σου ἐναντίον σου· λαβὼν ἀπότρεχε.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
quam ob causam dixisti esse sororem tuam, ut tollerem eam mihi in uxorem? Nunc igitur ecce conjux tua, accipe eam, et vade.
¿Por qué dijiste: ‘Es mi hermana’? ¡Yo pude haberla tomado por esposa! ¡Aquí tienes a tu mujer; tómala y vete!”
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
¿ Por qué dijiste: Es mi hermana? poniéndome en ocasión de tomarla para mí por mujer? Ahora pues, he aquí tu mujer, tómala y vete.
Why did you say, ‘ She is my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”
✦ What the text says
Summary
Genesis 12:19 records Pharaoh's direct address to Abram, questioning why he claimed Sarah was his sister, which led Pharaoh to take her as a wife. Pharaoh then returns her, commanding Abram to take her and leave.
Key words
- Mah ("why?", H4100) — interrogative pronoun combined with the preposition la ("to", H9005), forming the accusatory question "why?" that opens Pharaoh's speech.
- 'a.Mar.ta ("did you say", H0559) — qal perfect, second person masculine singular, marking a completed past action: the accusation centers on what Abram said.
- 'e.Kach ("I took", H3947G) — qal form with narrative vav prefix (va.), continuing the sequence of events: because of what Abram said, Pharaoh then took Sarah.
- 'ish.te.Kha ("your wife", H0802H + H9021) — construct noun with second person masculine singular suffix, explicitly identifying Sarah's relationship to Abram at the moment Pharaoh returns her.
- Kach ("take [her]", H3947G) and Lekh ("go", H1980G) — two qal imperatives in sequence, forming Pharaoh's direct command that closes the verse.
What the text says
The verse opens with the interrogative construction lamah ("why?"), built from la ("to", H9005) plus mah ("what?", H4100), a standard Hebrew idiom for posing a rhetorical or accusatory question. The main verb 'a.Mar.ta ("you said", H0559) is in the qal perfect, marking Abram's prior statement as a completed act now under scrutiny.
The clause 'a.Cho.ti hi' ("she is my sister") uses a construct noun with a pronominal suffix ('a.Cho.t + i, H0269) followed by the independent pronoun hi' ("she", H1931), forming a simple nominal sentence without a copula verb — typical of Hebrew present-tense statements of identity.
The narrative continues with va.'eKach ("and I took", H3947G), where the vav-prefixed verb form signals sequential narrative action: Pharaoh explains that Abram's statement directly caused him to take Sarah li le'ishah ("for myself, as a wife"), using two prepositions (li, H9005 + suffix; le, H9005) to stack the purpose clause.
The final section shifts to direct command: hinneh ("here!", H2009) draws attention to Sarah's presence, followed by 'ishtekha ("your wife", H0802H with suffix H9021) and two imperative verbs, qach ("take", H3947G) and va.Lekh ("and go", H1980G), issuing Pharaoh's dismissal.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the Hebrew nominal clause 'a.Choti hi' ("she is my sister") as ὅτι μού ἐστιν ("that she is mine"), omitting the specific term "sister" found in the Hebrew and Vulgate (sororem tuam, "your sister"). The Vulgate also adds igitur ("therefore"), an inferential connector not present in the Hebrew ve'attah ("and now", H6258), making the logical link between Pharaoh's discovery and his command more explicit than the Hebrew's simple sequential ve.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.