Discovery BoxGenesis 12:16-18 
Context12:16 and he did treat Abram well 1 on account of her. Abram received 2 sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
12:17 But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases 3 because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 12:18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What is this 4 you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife?
1 sn He did treat Abram well. The construction of the parenthetical disjunctive clause, beginning with the conjunction on the prepositional phrase, draws attention to the irony of the story. Abram wanted Sarai to lie “so that it would go well” with him. Though he lost Sarai to Pharaoh, it did go well for him – he received a lavish bride price. See also G. W. Coats, “Despoiling the Egyptians,” VT 18 (1968): 450-57.
2 tn Heb “and there was to him.”
3 tn The cognate accusative adds emphasis to the verbal sentence: “he plagued with great plagues,” meaning the
4 tn The demonstrative pronoun translated “this” adds emphasis: “What in the world have you done to me?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).
