Genesis 20

Abraham traveled on from there toward the southern region, and he lived between Kadesh and Shur, and he stayed for a time in Gerar.

1And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.

NoteThe southern region is the Negev, the dry grazing country south of Canaan. Kadesh and Shur lie along its southern edge toward the Sinai desert; Gerar was a town in the coastal plain to the northwest. "Stayed for a time" translates a word meaning to live somewhere as a resident foreigner, a man with no land of his own and no kinsmen nearby, whose safety depended entirely on the goodwill of the local ruler.

2Abraham said about his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." So Abimelech, the king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.

2And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

NoteIn this world a woman's marriage was arranged by her male relatives. A brother could be negotiated with and paid a bride-price; a husband stood in the way and could simply be got rid of. "Took her" means took her into his household as a wife, and a marriage between a king and a wealthy newcomer's family was a political tie as much as a personal one.

3But God came to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, "You are as good as a dead man, because of the woman you have taken. She is another man's wife."

3But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.

Note"As good as a dead man" is a Hebrew way of saying that a death sentence already stands over him, not that he has fallen ill.

4But Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, "Lord, will you kill a nation that has done no wrong?

4But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, LORD, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?

Note"A nation that has done no wrong" is courtroom language: innocent of the charge. Abimelech assumes what his hearers assumed, that a king's act implicates the people he rules, so the penalty would fall on the whole nation with him.

5Didn't he say to me, 'She is my sister'? And she herself also said, 'He is my brother.' I did this with an honest heart and clean hands."

5Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.

Note"Clean hands" is a standard idiom for being free of guilt for a crime, especially bloodguilt. It has nothing to do with washing.

6God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that you did this with an honest heart. That is why I held you back from sinning against me, and did not let you touch her.

6And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

7So now give the man his wife back. He is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not give her back, know that you will certainly die, you and everyone who belongs to you."

7Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.

Note"Prophet" translates a Hebrew word for one who speaks on God's behalf. Here the weight falls on the other half of the role: a prophet is someone whose prayer for another person carries authority, a go-between in both directions. "Everyone who belongs to you" means the household as a legal unit, wives, children, servants and dependants, who stood or fell with the head of the house.

8So Abimelech got up early in the morning and called all his servants, and he told them everything that had happened. The men were very afraid.

8Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.

9Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? What wrong did I do to you, that you have brought such a great sin on me and on my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done."

9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.

NoteIn legal texts from the surrounding cultures "great sin" is a fixed term for adultery. Abimelech's complaint is that Abraham nearly made him commit that specific offense without knowing it.

10Abimelech also said to Abraham, "What did you have in view, that you did this thing?"

10And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?

NoteThe question is literally "what did you see?", what did you notice, expect or fear in this place that made you act this way?

11Abraham said, "Because I thought, surely no one in this place fears God, and they will kill me because of my wife.

11And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake.

Note"Fear of God" here means restraint before a higher authority: the basic decency that stops people killing a stranger simply because no law or kinsman protects him. Abraham is saying he judged Gerar to be lawless.

12And besides, she really is my sister. She is my father's daughter, though not my mother's daughter, and she became my wife.

12And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

NoteMarriage to a half-sister by the same father was permitted in this period and practiced elsewhere in the ancient Near East; Israel's later law forbade it. The Hebrew word for "sister" can also be used more loosely for a female relative, so the claim is not necessarily as precise as it sounds in English.

13And when God had me wander away from my father's house, I said to her, 'This is the kindness you can show me: everywhere we go, say about me, he is my brother.'"

13And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

Note"Kindness" translates hesed, the loyalty owed inside a binding relationship, the faithfulness expected of a wife, a kinsman or an ally. Abraham is invoking a duty, not asking a favor.

14So Abimelech took sheep and cattle, male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and he gave him back his wife Sarah.

14And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.

NoteWealth was counted in livestock and in people. The gift is compensation as much as generosity: by the custom of the time, a payment made openly repaired the injury and closed the dispute.

15And Abimelech said, "Look, my land is in front of you. Live wherever you like."

15And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.

NoteA foreigner could not simply settle and graze his flocks where he chose; he needed the ruler's permission. Abimelech is granting Abraham freedom of the whole territory, an unusually large concession.

16And to Sarah he said, "Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a covering of the eyes for you, before everyone who is with you and before everyone else." And so she was set right.

16And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.

NoteThere was no coinage yet; silver was weighed out, and a "piece" is a shekel, roughly eleven or twelve grams. A thousand shekels is an enormous sum, later Israelite law values a slave at thirty shekels and sets fifty as the payment owed for a violated woman. "A covering of the eyes" is an obscure phrase found nowhere else in the Bible; it appears to mean that the payment publicly shields Sarah from suspicious looks, standing as proof before witnesses that nothing happened. The closing clause is genuinely ambiguous in Hebrew: the verb can mean "she was cleared, vindicated" or "she was rebuked, put right," and it is not certain whether Abimelech is still speaking or the narrator has taken over.

17So Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his female servants, and they had children.

17So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.

18For the LORD had completely closed every womb in Abimelech's household, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

18For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.

Note"LORD" in capitals represents God's personal name, the four Hebrew letters YHWH, which readers of the Hebrew did not say aloud, substituting the word for "lord." The ordinary "Lord" in verse 4 is the everyday word for a master or superior. This last verse also withholds until now what the danger actually was: the household had been struck with infertility, which is what verse 17 means by healing.