20
Sarah Renewed
1Then Abraham journeyed from there to the land of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was dwelling as an outsider in Gerar,
2Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech of Gerar sent for and took Sarah.
3But God came to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “Behold, you are as good as dead, because of the woman whom you have taken—since she is a married woman.”
4Now Abimelech had not come near her. So he said, “My Lord, will You slay a nation, even though innocent?
5Didn’t he say to me, ‘She’s my sister’? And she herself even said, ‘He’s my brother.’ I did this with integrity of my heart and guiltlessness of my hands.”
6Then God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I myself knew that you did this with integrity of your heart, so I, yes I Myself prevented you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not allow you to touch her.
7So now, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet. And let him pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will surely die—you and all who are yours.”
8Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants and spoke all these words in their ears—and the men were very frightened.
9Then Abimelech called to Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us, and how have I sinned against you, that you brought great sin upon me and my kingdom? You’ve done to me things that should not be done!”
10Abimelech also said to Abraham, “What motivated you to do this thing?”
11Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘There is certainly no fear of God in this place, so they’ll kill me, because of my wife.’
12And besides, she really is my sister. She’s my father’s daughter, though not my mother’s daughter. Then she became my wife.
13So when God made me wander away from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is your loyalty that you must show me: in every place we go, say of me, ‘He is my brother.’”
14Then Abimelech took sheep, cattle, male slaves and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him.
15Then Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you. Dwell wherever it pleases you.”
16At the same time he said to Sarah, “Look, I’ve given a thousand shekels to your brother. Look, it is compensation for everything that happened—so to everyone with you, you are vindicated.”
17Then Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his female slaves so that they could bear children.
18For Adonai had completely locked up every womb in Abimelech’s household because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.