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Selected Verse: Genesis 12:15 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Ge 12:15	Strong Concordance	The princes [08269] also of Pharaoh [06547] saw [07200] her, and commended [01984] her before [0413] Pharaoh [06547]: and the woman [0802] was taken [03947] into Pharaoh's [06547] house [01004].
	King James	The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house--Eastern kings have for ages claimed the privilege of taking to their harem an unmarried woman whom they like. The father or brother may deplore the removal as a calamity, but the royal right is never resisted nor questioned.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house--Eastern kings have for ages claimed the privilege of taking to their harem an unmarried woman whom they like. The father or brother may deplore the removal as a calamity, but the royal right is never resisted nor questioned.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
The princes of Pharaoh finding her very beautiful, extolled her beauty to the king, and she was taken to Pharaoh's house. As Sarah was then 65 years old (cf. Gen 17:17 and Gen 12:4), her beauty at such an age has been made a difficulty by some. But as she lived to the age of 127 (Gen 23:1), she was then middle-aged; and as her vigour and bloom had not been tried by bearing children, she might easily appear very beautiful in the eyes of the Egyptians, whose wives, according to both ancient and modern testimony, were generally ugly, and faded early. Pharaoh (the Egyptian ouro, king, with the article Pi) is the Hebrew name for all the Egyptian kings in the Old Testament; their proper names being only occasionally mentioned, as, for example, Necho in Kg2 23:29, or Hophra in Jer 44:30. For Sarai's sake Pharaoh treated Abram well, presenting him with cattle and slaves, possessions which constitute the wealth of nomads. These presents Abram could not refuse, though by accepting them he increased his sin. God then interfered (Gen 12:17), and smote Pharaoh and his house with great plagues. What the nature of these plagues was, cannot be determined; they were certainly of such a kind, however, that whilst Sarah was preserved by them from dishonour, Pharaoh saw at once that they were sent as punishment by the Deity on account of his relation to Sarai; he may also have learned, on inquiry from Sarai herself, that she was Abram's wife. He gave her back to him, therefore, with a reproof for his untruthfulness, and told him to depart, appointing men to conduct him out of the land together with his wife and all his possessions. שׁלּה, to dismiss, to give an escort (Gen 18:16; Gen 31:27), does not necessarily denote an involuntary dismissal here. For as Pharaoh had discovered in the plague the wrath of the God of Abraham, he did not venture to treat him harshly, but rather sought to mitigate the anger of his God, by the safe-conduct which he granted him on his departure. But Abram was not justified by this result, as was very apparent from the fact, that he was mute under Pharaoh's reproofs, and did not venture to utter a single word in vindication of his conduct, as he did in the similar circumstances described in Gen 10:11-12. The saving mercy of God had so humbled him, that he silently acknowledged his guilt in concealing his relation to Sarah from the Egyptian king.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

The princes of Pharaoh finding her very beautiful, extolled her beauty to the king, and she was taken to Pharaoh's house. As Sarah was then 65 years old (cf. Gen 17:17 and Gen 12:4), her beauty at such an age has been made a difficulty by some. But as she lived to the age of 127 (Gen 23:1), she was then middle-aged; and as her vigour and bloom had not been tried by bearing children, she might easily appear very beautiful in the eyes of the Egyptians, whose wives, according to both ancient and modern testimony, were generally ugly, and faded early. Pharaoh (the Egyptian ouro, king, with the article Pi) is the Hebrew name for all the Egyptian kings in the Old Testament; their proper names being only occasionally mentioned, as, for example, Necho in Kg2 23:29, or Hophra in Jer 44:30. For Sarai's sake Pharaoh treated Abram well, presenting him with cattle and slaves, possessions which constitute the wealth of nomads. These presents Abram could not refuse, though by accepting them he increased his sin. God then interfered (Gen 12:17), and smote Pharaoh and his house with great plagues. What the nature of these plagues was, cannot be determined; they were certainly of such a kind, however, that whilst Sarah was preserved by them from dishonour, Pharaoh saw at once that they were sent as punishment by the Deity on account of his relation to Sarai; he may also have learned, on inquiry from Sarai herself, that she was Abram's wife. He gave her back to him, therefore, with a reproof for his untruthfulness, and told him to depart, appointing men to conduct him out of the land together with his wife and all his possessions. שׁלּה, to dismiss, to give an escort (Gen 18:16; Gen 31:27), does not necessarily denote an involuntary dismissal here. For as Pharaoh had discovered in the plague the wrath of the God of Abraham, he did not venture to treat him harshly, but rather sought to mitigate the anger of his God, by the safe-conduct which he granted him on his departure. But Abram was not justified by this result, as was very apparent from the fact, that he was mute under Pharaoh's reproofs, and did not venture to utter a single word in vindication of his conduct, as he did in the similar circumstances described in Gen 10:11-12. The saving mercy of God had so humbled him, that he silently acknowledged his guilt in concealing his relation to Sarah from the Egyptian king.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
The woman was taken into Pharaoh's house - Pharaoh appears to have been the common appellative of the Cuthite shepherd kings of Egypt, who had conquered this land, as is conjectured, about seventy-two years before this time. The word is supposed to signify king in the ancient Egyptian language. If the meaning be sought in the Hebrew, the root פרע para signifies to be free or disengaged, a name which such freebooters as the Cuthite shepherds might naturally assume. All the kings of Egypt bore this name till the commencement of the Grecian monarchy, after which they were called Ptolemies. When a woman was brought into the seragilo or harem of the eastern princes, she underwent for a considerable time certain purifications before she was brought into the king's presence. It was in this interim that God plagued Pharaoh and his house with plagues, so that Sarai was restored before she could have been taken to the bed of the Egyptian king.

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¹¹ Out of that land [0776] went forth [03318] Asshur [0804], and builded [01129] Nineveh [05210], and the city [05892] Rehoboth [07344], and Calah [03625],
¹² And Resen [07449] between Nineveh [05210] and Calah [03625]: the same is a great [01419] city [05892].

²⁷ Wherefore didst thou flee away [01272] secretly [02244], and steal away [01589] from me; and didst not tell [05046] me, that I might have sent thee away [07971] with mirth [08057], and with songs [07892], with tabret [08596], and with harp [03658]?

¹⁶ And the men [0582] rose up [06965] from thence, and looked [08259] toward [06440] Sodom [05467]: and Abraham [085] went [01980] with them to bring them on the way [07971].

¹⁷ And the LORD [03068] plagued [05060] Pharaoh [06547] and his house [01004] with great [01419] plagues [05061] because of [01697] Sarai [08297] Abram's [087] wife [0802].

³⁰ Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068]; Behold, I will give [05414] Pharaohhophra [06548] king [04428] of Egypt [04714] into the hand [03027] of his enemies [0341], and into the hand [03027] of them that seek [01245] his life [05315]; as I gave [05414] Zedekiah [06667] king [04428] of Judah [03063] into the hand [03027] of Nebuchadrezzar [05019] king [04428] of Babylon [0894], his enemy [0341], and that sought [01245] his life [05315].

²⁹ In his days [03117] Pharaohnechoh [06549] king [04428] of Egypt [04714] went up [05927] against the king [04428] of Assyria [0804] to the river [05104] Euphrates [06578]: and king [04428] Josiah [02977] went [03212] against [07125] him; and he slew [04191] him at Megiddo [04023], when he had seen [07200] him.

¹ And Sarah [08283] was an hundred [03967] [08141] and seven [07651] [08141] and twenty [06242] years [08141] old [02416]: these were the years [08141] of the life [02416] of Sarah [08283].

⁴ So Abram [087] departed [03212], as the LORD [03068] had spoken [01696] unto him; and Lot [03876] went [03212] with him: and Abram [087] was seventy [07657] [08141] and five [02568] years [08141] old [01121] when he departed [03318] out of Haran [02771].

¹⁷ Then Abraham [085] fell [05307] upon his face [06440], and laughed [06711], and said [0559] in his heart [03820], Shall a child be born [03205] unto him that is an hundred [03967] years [08141] old [01121]? and shall Sarah [08283], that is ninety [08673] years [08141] old [01323], bear [03205]?