Bible Strands
Genesis 26:9
Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Abimelech summons Isaac to his presence after observing him caressing Rebekah from a window, confronting him about his earlier claim that she was his sister. Isaac responds by explaining that he concealed the truth because he feared being killed on account of her beauty.
The words — The Hebrew אַךְ ('akh) literally means "surely" or "indeed," functioning as an emphatic marker of Abimelech’s sudden realization. The phrase אִשְׁתְּךָ הִוא ('ish-te./Kha hi) translates directly to "she is your wife," delivering the precise correction of Isaac’s prior deception.
The thread — This confrontation mirrors the recorded deceptions in Genesis 12:10–20 and Genesis 20:1–18, where Abraham similarly passed off Sarah as his sister to foreign rulers. The textual pattern shows repeated marital concealment used as a survival strategy in foreign territories.
Why it lands — The text records a direct rebuke that exposes how fear-driven lies create tangible danger for others. It requires the reader to examine how self-preservation instincts compromise truth and invite communal guilt.
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 Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.