Covering of the eyes

The phrase "covering of eyes" is found in Genesis 20:16. It is translated literally in Young's Literal Translation. The King James Version inserts the definite article "the", absent in the original text. Almost all other versions treat it as a figurative expression, and translate it according to the meaning, not the individual words.

The verse appears when king Abimelech of Gerar is speaking to Abraham and his wife Sarah whom he had taken as his wife thinking her Abraham's sister:

וּלְשָׂרָה אָמַר, הִנֵּה נָתַתִּי אֶלֶף כֶּסֶף לְאָחִיךְ--הִנֵּה הוּא-לָךְ כְּסוּת עֵינַיִם, לְכֹל אֲשֶׁר אִתָּךְ; וְאֵת כֹּל, וְנֹכָחַת.

The King James Version translates as follows:

One commentator has interpreted the phrase as implied advice to Sarah to conform to a supposed custom of married women, and wear a complete veil, covering the eyes as well as the rest of the face, but the phrase is generally taken to refer not to Sarah's eyes, but to the eyes of others, and to be merely a metaphorical expression concerning vindication of Sarah (NASB, RSV), silencing criticism (GWT), allaying suspicions (NJB), righting a wrong (BBE, NLT), covering or recompensing the problem caused her (NIV, NLV, TNIV, JB), a sign of her innocence (ESV, CEV, HCSB). The final phrase in the verse, which KJV takes to mean "she was reproved", is taken by almost all other versions to mean instead "she was vindicated", and the word "הוא", which KJV interprets as "he" (Abraham), is interpreted as "it" (the money).

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