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Genesis 20:16

To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is for you a covering of the eyes to all that are with you. In front of all you are vindicated.”

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is for you a covering of the eyes to all that are with you. In front of all you are vindicated.”

  • KJV King James Version

    And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    And unto Sarah he said: 'Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is for thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee; and before all men thou art righted.'

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Cross-references (10)

Passages linked to Genesis 20:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Genesis 20:5 Didn’t he tell me, ‘She is my sister’? She, even she herself, said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.”
  • Proverbs 27:5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
  • Genesis 24:65 She said to the servant, “Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” She took her veil, and covered herself.
  • Genesis 26:11 Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
  • 1 Chronicles 21:3-6 Joab said, “May Yahweh make his people a hundred times as many as they are. But, my lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel?” Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, then came to Jerusalem. Joab gave up the sum of the census of the people to David. All those of Israel were one million one hundred thousand men who drew a sword; and in Judah were four hundred seventy thousand men who drew a sword. But he didn’t count Levi and Benjamin among them; for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.
  • Proverbs 9:8-9 Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise person, and he will love you. Instruct a wise person, and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous person, and he will increase in learning.
  • Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.
  • Proverbs 25:12 As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover to an obedient ear.
  • Jonah 1:6 So the ship master came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish.”
  • Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (13 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 16. He is to thee a covering of the…

16. He is to thee a covering of the eyes. Because there is, in these words, some obscurity, the passage is variously explained. The beginning of the verse is free from difficulty. For when Abimelech had given a thousand pieces of silver; in order that his liberality might not be suspected, he declare6 that he had given them to Abraham; and that since Abraham had been honorably received, his wife was not to be regarded as a harlot. But what follows is more obscure, ‘He shall be a veil to thee.’ Many interpreters refer this to the gift; in which they seem to me to be wrong. The Hebrews, having no neuter gender, use the feminine instead of it. But Moses, in this place, rather points to the husband; and this best suits the sense. For Sarah is taught that the husband to whom she is joined was as a veil, with which she ought to be covered lest she should be exposed to others. Paul says, that the veil which the woman carries on her head, is the symbol of subjection. (1 Corinthians 11:10.) This also belongs to unmarried persons, as referring to the end for which the sex is ordained; but it applies more aptly to married women; because they are veiled, as by the very ordinance of marriage. I therefore thus explain the words, ‘Thou, if thou hadst no husband, wouldst be exposed to many dangers; but now, since God has appointed for thee a guardian of thy modesty, it behoves thee to conceal thyself under that veil. Why then hast thou of thine own accords thrown off this covering?’ This was a just censure; because Sarah, pretending that she was in the power of her husband, had deprived herself of the divine protection.

Thus she was reproved. Interpreters distort this clause also. The natural exposition seems to me to be, that the Lord had suffered Sarah to be reproved by a heathen king, that he might the more deeply affect her with a sense of shame. For Moses draws especial attention to the person of the speaker; because it seemed a disgrace that the mother of the faithful should be reprehended by such a master. Others suppose that Moses speaks of the profit which she had received; seeing that she, instructed by such a lesson, would henceforth learn to act differently. But Moses seems rather to point out that kind of correction of which I have spoken; namely, that Sarah was humbled, by being delivered over to the discipline of a heathen man.

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 Such an head, as with whom thou mayest be…
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 20:16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Thy brother; a sharp rebuke and irony: q.d. he…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And unto Sarah he said, behold, I have given…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Thy brother is to thee a covering of the…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 16. And unto Sarah he said] But what…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Gen 20:16. He, or this, is to thee a…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Thy brother, as thou hast agreed to call thy…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 16. I have given thy brother — The use…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 16. I have given thy brother] Abimelech emphasizes the…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (16) A thousand pieces of silver.—Heb., a thousand of…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given…

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