Genesis 20
1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the land of the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar.
Abraham left Mamre and moved southwest to the Negev desert and lived in a place named Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur.
2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
While he was there, he told people that Sarah was his sister, not his wife. Then King Abimelech of Gerar sent some of his men to Sarah, and they brought her to him to be his wife.
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, because of the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.
But God appeared to Abimelech in a dream during the night and said to him, “Listen to me! You are going to die because the woman you took is another man’s wife.”
4 Now Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay even a righteous nation?
But Abimelech had not had sex [EUP] with her, so he said, “God, since the people of my nation and I am innocent; will you kill me?
5 Said he not himself unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and the innocency of my hands have I done this.
He told me, ‘She is my sister,’ and she also said, ‘He is my brother.’ I did this with pure motives and I [SYN] have not done anything wrong yet.”
6 And God said unto him in the dream, Yea, I know that in the integrity of thy heart thou hast done this, and I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
God said to him in another dream, “Yes, I know that your motives were pure. That is why I truly prevented you from sinning against me. I did not allow you to have sex [EUP] with her.
7 Now therefore restore the man’s 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.
Now, return this man’s wife to her husband, because he is (a prophet/a man who receives messages from me). He will pray for you, and you will (remain alive/not die). But if you do not return her to him, you will certainly die, and all the members of your household will also certainly die.”
8 And 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.
Early the next morning, Abimelech summoned all his officials, and told them everything that had happened. When they heard that [MTY], his men were very afraid [that God would punish them].
9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and wherein have I sinned against 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.
Abimelech then summoned Abraham, and said to him, “You should not have done that to us [RHQ]! Did I do something wrong to you, with the result that you are causing me and the people in [MTY] my kingdom to be guilty of committing a great sin [RHQ]? You have done things to me that (should not be done/you should not have done)!”
10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?
Abimelech asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing this?”
11 And 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.
Abraham replied, “I said that because I thought, ‘They certainly do not respect God in this place. If they don’t respect God, they will not respect relationships with others. [If I say she is my sister, they will try to pay me a bride price] to get her. But if I say she is my wife, they will kill me to get her.’
12 And moreover she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife:
Besides, she really [can be considered] my sister, because she is the daughter of my father, although she is not the daughter of my mother. She is the daughter of another woman, and I married her.
13 and 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.
Later, when God told me to move away from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is the way you can show that you love me: Everywhere we go, say about me, “This is my brother.”’”
14 And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and menservants and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
So Abimelech brought some sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham. And he returned his wife Sarah to him.
15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.
And Abimelech said to him, “Look! All my land is here in front of you. Live in whatever place you like!”
16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, it is for thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee; and in respect of all thou art righted.
And he said to Sarah, “Look here, I am giving 1,000 pieces of silver to your brother. This is to insure that no one will [bring up this matter again and] say that I have done something wrong. [EUP, IDM]”
17 And Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech’s wife and his slave girls so that they could become pregnant.
18 For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.
This was because Yahweh had caused it to be impossible for any of the women in Abimelech’s household to bear children, because Abimelech had taken Abraham’s wife Sarah.
