Abram and Nahor married wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, who was also the father of Iscah. Sarai was barren. She had no child. Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there.
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Genesis 11:29-31 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Now this is the history of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot. Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees, while his father Terah was still alive. Abram and Nahor married wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, who was also the father of Iscah. Sarai was barren. She had no child. Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there. The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran.
Parallel Translations
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Abram and Nahor married wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, who was also the father of Iscah.
Sarai was barren. She had no child.
Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there.
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And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
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And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
And Sarai was barren; she had no child.
And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
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Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (29)
- Nehemiah 9:7 (v31) You are Yahweh, the God who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees, gave him the name of Abraham,
- Acts 7:2-4 (v31) He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in…
- Genesis 12:4 (v31) So Abram went, as Yahweh had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
- Genesis 15:7 (v31) He said to Abram, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.”
- Genesis 24:10 (v31) The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and departed, having a variety of good things of his master’s with him. He arose, and went to…
Show all 28 cross-references
- Joshua 24:2-3 (v31) Joshua said to all the people, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father…
- Genesis 11:32–12:1 (v31) The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran. Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and…
- Genesis 17:15 (v29) God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah.
- Genesis 22:20 (v29) After these things, Abraham was told, “Behold, Milcah, she also has borne children to your brother Nahor:
- Genesis 10:19 (v31) The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon—as you go toward Gerar—to Gaza—as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim—to Lasha.
- Genesis 27:43 (v31) Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran.
- Genesis 24:15 (vv29, 31) Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother,…
- Genesis 11:26-28 (v31) Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Now this is the history of the generations of Terah. Terah…
- Genesis 20:12 (v29) Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
- Hebrews 11:8 (v31) By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing…
- Genesis 15:2-3 (v30) Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” Abram…
- Genesis 16:1-2 (v30) Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. Sarai said to Abram, “See now, Yahweh…
- Genesis 18:11-12 (v30) Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Sarah laughed within herself, saying,…
- Genesis 21:1-2 (v30) Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken. Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at…
- Genesis 25:21 (v30) Isaac entreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren. Yahweh was entreated by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
- Genesis 29:4-5 (v31) Jacob said to them, “My relatives, where are you from?” They said, “We are from Haran.” He said to them, “Do you know Laban, the son of…
- Genesis 29:31 (v30) Yahweh saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
- Genesis 30:1-2 (v30) When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.”…
- Judges 13:2 (v30) There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and childless.
- 1 Samuel 1:2 (v30) He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
- Psalms 113:9 (v30) He settles the barren woman in her home as a joyful mother of children. Praise Yah!
- Luke 1:7 (v30) But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years.
- Luke 1:36 (v30) Behold, Elizabeth your relative also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
28 distinct cross-references across this passage (29 total citations).
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv30–31 30. But Sarai was barren. Not only does he…
30. But Sarai was barren. Not only does he say that Abram was without children, but he states the reasons namely, the sterility of his wife; in order to show that it was by nothing short of an extraordinary miracle that she afterwards bare Isaac, as we shall declare more fully in its proper place. Thus was God pleased to humble his servant; and we cannot doubt that Abram would suffer severe pain through this privation. He sees the wicked springing up everywhere, in great numbers, to cover the earth; he alone is deprived of children. And although hitherto he was ignorant of his own future vocation; yet God designed in his person, as in a mirror, to make it evident, whence and in what manner his Church should arise; for at that time it lay hid, as in a dry root under the earth.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv29, 31 Some think that this Iscah was Sarai.
Some think that this Iscah was Sarai.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv29–31 Gen 11:29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives:…
Gen 11:29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife [was] Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
Ver. 29. And the father of Iscah.] The Chaldee Paraphrast addeth Hi Sara; , the same is Sarah. It was not yet flatly forbidden to marry a brother’s daughter, as afterwards it was. {Lev 18:14} Why then should Burgensis on the text say, that such marriages were never prohibited?
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv29–31 Such marriages of uncles and nieces being permitted then,…
Such marriages of uncles and nieces being permitted then, Exo 6:20, (as in the beginning of the world the marriages of brethren and sisters were), though afterwards, the church being very much enlarged, they were severely forbidden, Lev 18:12,14.
Iscah is either Sarai, as the Jews and many others think, or rather another person. For,
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1. Why should Moses express Sarai thus darkly and doubtfully? Had he meant her, he would have added after Iscah, this is Sarai, according to his manner in like cases, Gen 14:2,7; 35:6.
2. He elsewhere calleth her, the daughter, not of his brother, as he should have done, had she been Iscah, but of his father, by another mother.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv29, 31 Verse 29. Milcah, the daughter of Haran] Many suppose…
Verse 29. Milcah, the daughter of Haran] Many suppose Sarai and Iscah are the same person under two different names; but this is improbable, as Iscah is expressly said to be the daughter of Haran, and Sarai was the daughter of Terah, and half sister of Abram.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v29 Jescha, whom many confound with Sarai, as if both…
Jescha, whom many confound with Sarai, as if both Nacher and Abram had married the daughters of their brother Aran. But why then does Moses mention Sarai before, and then call her Jescha in the same verse? It seems as if he intended to designate two different women. (Haydock) --- In effect, Abram himself says, Sarai was truly his sister, born of the same father, chap. xii. 13. See chap. xx. 12, where we shall give the reasons that seem to prove that she was the daughter of Thare, and not Aran. (Calmet) --- Jescha does not accompany her grandfather, preferring, perhaps, to stay with Nachor, or to marry in her own country; if she were not already dead when Thare departed from Ur, a city of the Chaldees. (Haydock) --- This city is probably Ura, in Mesopotamia, not far from Nisibis, which the Scripture often mentions is a part of Chaldea. (Acts. vii. 2, &c.) (Calmet) --- It is not, however certain that the rest of Thare’s family remained behind; if they did, they removed soon after into the country about Haran, or Charræ, on the Charboras. (chap. xxix. 4; Josephus, Antiquities 1. 6.) (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v31 Sarai his daughter-in-law--the same as Iscah [Gen 11:29], granddaughter…
Sarai his daughter-in-law--the same as Iscah [Gen 11:29], granddaughter of Terah, probably by a second wife, and by early usages considered marriageable to her uncle, Abraham.
they came unto Haran--two days' journey south-southeast from Ur, on the direct road to the ford of the Euphrates at Rakka, the nearest and most convenient route to Palestine.
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Next: Genesis Chapter 12
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv29, 31 29. Iscah is, by Josephus, (Ant., 1:6,) and by…
29. Iscah is, by Josephus, (Ant., 1:6,) and by the Jewish writers generally, identified with Sarai or Sarah. If so, Abram married his niece, and Lot was his brother-in-law as well as his nephew. See the plan under Gen_11:27. That Sarah was in some way descended from Terah appears from Abram’s statement to Abimelech, Gen_20:12, “She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv29, 31 29. Sarai] Abram’s wife was, according to Gen_20:12, his…
29. Sarai] Abram’s wife was, according to Gen_20:12, his half-sister, i.e. a daughter of Terah by another wife. Milcah, Nahor’s wife, is Nahor’s niece. Whether in these marriages we have to deal with the actual details of relationship permitted in nomadic life, or whether we have presented to us, under the imagery of matrimony, the fusion of families or tribes in the main community, is a question which we are not able through lack of evidence to answer. The blending of personal and tribal history produces a result, in which it is impossible to be sure of disentangling the separate elements.
“Sarai” is believed to be an archaic form of “Sarah” = “princess”: cf. Gen_17:15.
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The fact that Sarratu (= “princess”) was a title of the moon-goddess, consort of Sin, and Malkatu (= “queen”), a title of Istar, among the deities worshipped in Harran, raises questions with regard to the origin of the Hebrew proper names, Sarah and Milcah.
For Milcah cf. Gen_22:20; Gen_22:23; Gen_24:15; Gen_24:24; Gen_24:47. “Iscah,” otherwise unknown: by some identified with Sarai; by others as Lot’s wife.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv29, 31 (29) Iscah.—Not the same as Sarai, for we learn…
(29) Iscah.—Not the same as Sarai, for we learn in Gen_20:12 that she was Abraham’s half-sister—that is, a daughter of Terah by another wife. Nor was she Lot’s wife, as Ewald supposed, for she was his full sister. Marriages between near relatives seem to have been allowed at this time, and were perhaps even common for religious reasons (see Gen_24:3-4; Gen_28:1-2), but not marriages between those actually by the same mother. Thus Abraham takes his half-sister to wife, and Nahor his niece. Iscah, like Naamah (Gen_4:22), was probably eminent in her time, but for reasons not recorded.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv29–31 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: (cf. Gen_6:2)…
And Abram and Nahor took them wives: (cf. Gen_6:2) the name of Abram"s wife was Sarai. My princess," from sarah, to rule (Gesenius, Lange); "Strife" (Kalisch, Murphy): "Jah is ruler" (Furst). The LXX write Sara, changing afterwards to SarjrJa to correspond with Sarah. That Sarai was Iscah (Josephus, Augustine, Jerome, Jonathan) has been inferred from Gen_20:12; but, though receiving apparent sanction from ver. 31, this opinion "is not supported by any solid argument" (Rosenm And the name of Nahor"s wife, Milcah (Queen, or Counsel), the daughter of Haran, i.e. Nahor"s niece. Marriage with a half-sister or a niece was afterwards forbidden by the Mosaic code. (Lev_18:9, Lev_18:14) The father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah, whose name "Seer" may have been introduced into the narrative like that of Naamah, (Gen_4:22) as that of an eminent lady connected with the family (Murphy). Ewald"s hypothesis, that Iscah was Lot"s wife, is pure conjecture.
HOMILIES BY W. ROBERTS Vers. 29, 30. Two weddings.
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I THE TWO BRIDEGROOMS Abram and Nahor.
1. Younger sons in Terah s family.
2. Eminent men in Ur of the Chaldees.
3. Favored saints in the Church of God. Marriage is honorable in all.
II THE TWO BRIDES Sarai and Milcah.
1. Near relations of their husbands. Though permissible at that early stage of the world"s history, the intermarriage of relatives so close as half-sister and niece is not now sanctioned by the law of God.
2. Attractive ladies in themselves. As much as this may be inferred from their names. It is both allowable and desirable to seek as wives women distinguished for beauty and intelligence, provided also they are noted for goodness and piety.
3. Descendants of the holy line. Doubtless this was one cause which led to the choice of Abram and Nahor. So Christians should not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
III THE TWO HOMES. Formed it might be at the same time, and under similar benignant auspices, they were yet divided.
1. And from the first in their constitutions. This was of necessity.
2. And afterwards in their fortunes. Sarai had no child; Milcah was the mother of a family. "Lo, children are the heritage of the Lord.
3. And eventually in their locations. Nahor and Milcah remained in Ur, and ultimately moved to Haran; Abram and Sarai pitched their tent and established their home in Canaan. So God parts the families of earth. W.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v31 Terah The name means delay.
Terah The name means delay.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv29, 31 took wives
took wives
"married wives"
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Iskah
This is a female name. (See: How to Translate Names)
Now
This word is used to introduce new information about Sarai that will become important in later chapters.
barren
This term describes a woman who is physically unable to conceive or bear a child. (See: Euphemism)
translationWords
Abraham
Sarah
barren
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv29–31 11:29 Sarai means “princess” in Hebrew. No mention is…
11:29 Sarai means “princess” in Hebrew. No mention is made of Sarai’s parentage, perhaps to add suspense to the Abimelech story, which reveals that she was Abram’s half sister (20:9-12). Later, the law prohibited such a marriage (Lev 18:9; 20:17; Deut 27:22). • Nahor’s wife was Milcah: Milcah was Haran’s daughter and Nahor’s niece (see Gen 11:29). Her son Bethuel was the father of Rebekah, the wife of Abram’s son Isaac (24:10, 15, 24). The name Milcah is related to the Hebrew word meaning “queen.” In Akkadian, it is a title of the goddess Ishtar, the moon-god’s daughter. Terah’s name is related to the word for “moon” in Hebrew; his whole family appears to have worshiped Sin, the moon-god (see Josh 24:14).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.