Abraham and Abimelech

20 And Abraham journeyed from ^(A)there to the South, and dwelt between ^(B)Kadesh and Shur, and ^(C)stayed in Gerar. ² Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, ^(D)“She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and ^(E)took Sarah.

³ But ^(F)God came to Abimelech ^(G)in a dream by night, and said to him, ^(H)“Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is ^[a]a man’s wife.”

⁴ But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, ^(I)will You slay a righteous nation also? ⁵ Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ ^(J)In the ^[b]integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.”

⁶ And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For ^(K)I also withheld you from sinning ^(L)against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; ^(M)for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, ^(N)know that you shall surely die, you ^(O)and all who are yours.”

⁸ So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were very much afraid. ⁹ And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I ^[c]offended you, ^(P)that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me ^(Q)that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?”

¹¹ And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely ^(R)the fear of God is not in this place; and ^(S)they will kill me on account of my wife. ¹² But indeed ^(T)she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. ¹³ And it came to pass, when ^(U)God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, ^(V)say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”

¹⁴ Then Abimelech ^(W)took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him. ¹⁵ And Abimelech said, “See, ^(X)my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” ¹⁶ Then to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; ^(Y)indeed this ^[d]vindicates you ^(Z)before all who are with you and before everybody.” Thus she was ^[e]rebuked.

¹⁷ So Abraham ^(AA)prayed to God; and God ^(AB)healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; ¹⁸ for the Lord ^(AC)had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Isaac and Abimelech

26 There was a famine in the land, besides ^(A)the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to ^(B)Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.

² Then the Lord appeared to him and said: ^(C)“Do not go down to Egypt; live in ^(D)the land of which I shall tell you. ^3 (E)Dwell in this land, and ^(F)I will be with you and ^(G)bless you; for to you and your descendants ^(H)I give all these lands, and I will perform ^(I)the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. ⁴ And ^(J)I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; ^(K)and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; ^5 (L)because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

⁶ So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. ⁷ And the men of the place asked about his wife. And ^(M)he said, “She is my sister”; for ^(N)he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is ^(O)beautiful to behold.” ⁸ Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, ^[a]showing endearment to Rebekah his wife. ⁹ Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ ”

¹⁰ And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and ^(P)you would have brought guilt on us.” ¹¹ So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who ^(Q)touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

¹² Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year ^(R)a hundredfold; and the Lord ^(S)blessed him. ¹³ The man ^(T)began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; ¹⁴ for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines ^(U)envied him. ¹⁵ Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells ^(V)which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. ¹⁶ And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for ^(W)you are much mightier than we.”