Genesis 12:19
For what cause didst thou say, she was thy sister, that I might take her to my wife? Now, therefore, there is thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
Open Genesis 12:19 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- quam ob causam dixisti esse sororem tuam, ut tollerem eam mihi in uxorem ? Nunc igitur ecce conjux tua, accipe eam, et vade.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἵνα τί εἶπας ὅτι Ἀδελφή μού ἐστιν; καὶ ἔλαβον αὐτὴν ἐμαυτῷ εἰς γυναῖκα. καὶ νῦν ἰδοὺ ἡ γυνή σου ἐναντίον σου· λαβὼν ἀπότρεχε.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- לָמָ֤ה אָמַ֨רְתָּ֙ אֲחֹ֣תִי הִ֔וא וָאֶקַּ֥ח אֹתָ֛הּ לִ֖י לְאִשָּׁ֑ה וְעַתָּ֕ה הִנֵּ֥ה אִשְׁתְּךָ֖ קַ֥ח וָלֵֽךְ
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). …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm CV
8. “What time as they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people” ( ver. 13 ). This is a repetition of what he had said, “from one nation to another.” “He suffered no man to do them harm: but reproved even kings for their sakes” ( ver. 14 ). “Touch not,” He said, “Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm” ( ver. 15 ). He declareth the words of God chiding or reproving kings, that they might not harm the holy fathers, while they were small in number, very few, and they strangers in the land of Canaan. Although these words be not read in the books of that history, yet they are to be understood as either secretly spoken, as God speaketh in the hearts of men by unseen and true visions, or even as announced through an Angel. …