Bible Strands
Genesis 12:16
He treated Abram well on her account, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Pharaoh’s household transfers livestock, servants, and pack animals to Abram after officials present Sarai to the king. The narrator records this property transfer as the immediate result of Sarai entering the palace.
The words — The Hebrew verb הֵיטִיב (heṭîḇ) translates “he did good,” modified by the phrase בַּעֲבוּרָהּ (baʿăḇûrâh), “on her account.” The inventory lists צֹאן (ṣōʾan, sheep), בָקָר (bāqār, cattle), חֲמֹרִים (ḥămōrîm, donkeys), and עֲבָדִים (ʿăḇādîm, servants).
The thread — Abram’s sudden accumulation of livestock and servants parallels his later recorded wealth in Genesis 13:2 and the restored provision in Genesis 20:14.
Why it lands — The text states a factual transfer of property without moral evaluation, requiring the reader to observe how divine action later interrupts this human arrangement.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.
Cross-references
- Genesis 20:14 So Abimelech brought sheep and cattle, menservants and maidservants, and he gave them to Abraham and restored his wife Sarah to him.
- Genesis 13:2 And Abram had become extremely wealthy in livestock and silver and gold.
- Genesis 24:35 “The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and donkeys.
- Genesis 26:14 He owned so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.
- Genesis 32:5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants. I have sent this message to inform my master, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”
- Genesis 32:13 Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau:
- Job 1:3 and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man of all the people of the East.
- Job 42:12 So the LORD blessed Job’s latter days more than his first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.
- Psalms 144:13 Our storehouses will be full, supplying all manner of produce; our flocks will bring forth thousands, tens of thousands in our fields.