Genesis 16:5

16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You have brought this wrong on me! ¹  I allowed my servant to have sexual relations with you, ²  but when she realized ³  that she was pregnant, she despised me. ⁴  May the Lord judge between you and me!” ⁵ 

Genesis 26:7

26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” ⁶  He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, ⁷  “The men of this place will kill me to get ⁸  Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”

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¹ tn Heb “my wrong is because of you.”

² tn Heb “I placed my female servant in your bosom.”

³ tn Heb “saw.”

⁴ tn Heb “I was despised in her eyes.” The passive verb has been translated as active for stylistic reasons. Sarai was made to feel supplanted and worthless by Hagar the servant girl.

⁵ tn Heb “me and you.”

sn May the Lord judge between you and me. Sarai blamed Abram for Hagar’s attitude, not the pregnancy. Here she expects to be vindicated by the Lord who will prove Abram responsible. A colloquial rendering might be, “God will get you for this.” It may mean that she thought Abram had encouraged the servant girl in her elevated status.

⁶ sn Rebekah, unlike Sarah, was not actually her husband’s sister.

⁷ tn Heb “lest.” The words “for he thought to himself” are supplied because the next clause is written with a first person pronoun, showing that Isaac was saying or thinking this.

⁸ tn Heb “kill me on account of.”