Shared Word Translation
Genesis 20
Abraham and Abimelech
From there Abraham journeyed toward the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. And he sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a married woman.” Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent nation? Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
Abimelech Confronts Abraham
So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were greatly afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought upon me and upon my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see that led you to do this thing?”
Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you shall show me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”
Sarah Restored
Then Abimelech took sheep and cattle and male servants and female servants and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you. Dwell where it is good in your eyes.” And to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a vindication before all who are with you and before everyone. You are completely vindicated.”
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also his wife and his female servants, so that they bore children. For the LORD had completely closed every womb of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.