Genesis 12:11
And when he was near to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife: I know that thou art a beautiful woman:
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Cumque prope esset ut ingrederetur Ægyptum, dixit Sarai uxori suæ : Novi quod pulchra sis mulier :
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἐγένετο δὲ ἡνίκα ἤγγισεν Ἀβρὰμ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, εἶπεν Ἀβρὰμ Σάρᾳ τῇ γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ ⸆ Γινώσκω ἐγὼ ὅτι γυνὴ εὐπρόσωπος εἶ·
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיְהִ֕י כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר הִקְרִ֖יב לָב֣וֹא מִצְרָ֑יְמָה וַיֹּ֨אמֶר֙ אֶל שָׂרַ֣י אִשְׁתּ֔וֹ הִנֵּה נָ֣א יָדַ֔עְתִּי כִּ֛י אִשָּׁ֥ה יְפַת מַרְאֶ֖ה אָֽתְּ
Haydock's commentary
Beautiful: having yet had no children, though she must have been 65 years old. Abram acts with prudence, and does not tempt God: if he had made known that the woman was his wife, he would have exposed his life to imminent danger, amid a cruel and lascivious people; and being convinced of the chastity of Sarai, he did not, in the least, apprehend that she would consent to any violation of her conjugal engagements. He did not, therefore, expose her virtue as the Manichees pretended. (St. Augustine, contra Faust. xxii. 33; City of God xvi. 19.) (Haydock; Calmet)
The event proved the justice of Abram's suspicions, and God's interference shewed that he was not displeased with his concealing part of the truth. Who can be so simple as to suppose, that we are bound to explain all our concerns to a foe? Do not we every day act with the like caution as Abram did, when we have reason to fear danger? Do not we wish, when fleeing from an enemy's country, that he should conclude we were taking a walk of pleasure? (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Tertullian On the Apparel of Women, Chapter II
You must know that in the eye of perfect, that is, Christian, modesty, (carnal) desire of one’s self (on the part of others) is not only not to be desired, but even execrated, by you: first, because the study of making personal grace (which we know to be naturally the inviter of lust) a mean of pleasing does not spring from a sound conscience: why therefore excite toward yourself that evil (passion)? why invite (that) to which you profess yourself a stranger? secondly, because we ought not to open a way to temptations, which, by their instancy, sometimes achieve (a wickedness) which God expels from them who are His; (or,) at all events, put the spirit into a thorough tumult by (presenting) a stumbling-block (to it). …