Genesis 20

¹From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur ; and he sojourned in Gerar .

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

³But 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 man’s wife .

⁴Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said , Lord , will you kill an innocent people ?

⁵Did 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.

⁶Then 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.

⁷Now then, return the man’s wife , for he is a prophet , so that 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.

⁸So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things . And the men were very much afraid .

⁹Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin ? You have done to me things that ought not to be done .

¹⁰And Abimelech said to Abraham , What did you see , that you did this thing ?

¹¹Abraham said , I did it because I thought , There is no fear of God at all in this place , and they will kill me because of my wife .

¹²Besides, she is indeed my sister , the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother , and she became my wife .

¹³And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house , I said to her, This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come , say of me, He is my brother .

¹⁴Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen , and male servants and female servants , and gave them to Abraham , and returned Sarah his wife to him.

¹⁵And Abimelech said , Behold, my land is before you ; dwell where it pleases you .

¹⁶To Sarah he said , Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver . It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you , and before everyone you are vindicated .

¹⁷Then Abraham prayed to God , and God healed Abimelech , and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children .

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