Genesis 20:10

Summary

Abimelech confronts Abraham, asking him what he perceived or intended that led him to act as he did — specifically, to conceal that Sarah was his wife. The question is framed as a demand for justification, using a perfect-tense construction that presents the past action as completed and now needing explanation.

Key words

• mah ("what?", H4100) — interrogative pronoun opening the direct question, seeking the reasoning behind Abraham's conduct.
• ra'ita ("you saw", H7200G) — qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular; frames the inquiry around Abraham's perception or judgment ("what did you see") rather than his intention alone.
• ki ("that", H3588A) — subordinating particle linking the "seeing" to the "doing"; can function causally ("because") or as a result/content clause ("that"), leaving the logical relation between the two verbs somewhat open in Hebrew.
• asita ("you did", H6213A) — qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular; parallel form to ra'ita, both completed actions, emphasizing the finished nature of Abraham's deed.
• ha.davar ha.zeh ("this thing", H1697I + H2088) — noun with article followed by demonstrative with article, a common Hebrew pattern (article + noun + article + demonstrative) meaning "this particular thing," pointing back to Abraham's earlier claim that Sarah was his sister.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav-consecutive verb va-yomer ("and he said," H0559), introducing direct speech from Abimelech to Abraham. The core of the question is built on two parallel qal perfect verbs — ra'ita ("you saw") and asita ("you did") — joined by the particle ki. This particle does not correspond neatly to a single English or Latin conjunction: it can be read as introducing a result ("what did you see, that you did this"), a causal link ("what did you see, because you did this"), or a more general connective clause. The Hebrew leaves the exact logical relation between "seeing" and "doing" unspecified, which is part of what different translations attempt to resolve.

The direct object of asita is marked by the untranslated particle 'et (H0853), followed by ha-davar ha-zeh, "this thing" — a phrase referring back to the deception Abraham has already committed by presenting Sarah as his sister.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew keeps ra'ita and asita as two separate perfect verbs joined by ki. The LXX collapses this into a single construction using the participle ἐνιδὼν ("having noticed/observed") governing the main verb ἐποίησας ("you did"), producing "what, having observed, did you do this?" — a tighter causal link than the Hebrew's more ambiguous ki. The Vulgate instead renders ki with a purpose/result clause, ut hoc faceres ("that you might do this"), using a subjunctive mood not present in the Hebrew perfect, which grammatically marks the action as completed rather than purposive.