Genesis 20
New English Translation
Abraham and Abimelech
20 Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev[a] region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident[b] in Gerar, 2 Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.
3 But God appeared[c] to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “You are as good as dead[d] because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife.”[e]
4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, “Lord,[f] would you really slaughter an innocent nation?[g] 5 Did Abraham[h] not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said,[i] ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience[j] and with innocent hands!”
6 Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience.[k] That is why I have kept you[l] from sinning against me and why[m] I did not allow you to touch her. 7 But now give back the man’s wife. Indeed[n] he is a prophet[o] and he will pray for you; thus you will live.[p] But if you don’t give her back,[q] know that you will surely die[r] along with all who belong to you.”
8 Early in the morning[s] Abimelech summoned[t] all his servants. When he told them about all these things,[u] they[v] were terrified. 9 Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What sin did I commit against you that would cause you to bring such great guilt on me and my kingdom?[w] You have done things to me that should not be done!”[x] 10 Then Abimelech asked[y] Abraham, “What prompted you to do this thing?”[z]
11 Abraham replied, “Because I thought,[aa] ‘Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of[ab] my wife.’ 12 What’s more,[ac] she is indeed my sister, my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter. She became my wife. 13 When God made me wander[ad] from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me:[ae] Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”
14 So Abimelech gave[af] sheep, cattle, and male and female servants to Abraham. He also gave his wife Sarah back to him. 15 Then Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you; live wherever you please.”[ag]
16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given 1,000 pieces of silver[ah] to your ‘brother.’[ai] This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.”[aj]
17 Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, as well as his wife and female slaves so that they were able to have children. 18 For the Lord[ak] had caused infertility to strike every woman[al] in the household of Abimelech because he took[am] Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Footnotes
- Genesis 20:1 tn Or “the South [country]”; Heb “the land of the Negev.”sn Negev is the name for the southern desert region in the land of Canaan.
- Genesis 20:1 tn Heb “and he sojourned.”
- Genesis 20:3 tn Heb “came.”
- Genesis 20:3 tn Heb “Look, you [are] dead.” The Hebrew construction uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with a second person pronominal particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with by the participle. It is a highly rhetorical expression.
- Genesis 20:3 tn Heb “and she is owned by an owner.” The disjunctive clause is causal or explanatory in this case.
- Genesis 20:4 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay).
- Genesis 20:4 tn Apparently Abimelech assumes that God’s judgment will fall on his entire nation. Some, finding the reference to a nation problematic, prefer to emend the text and read, “Would you really kill someone who is innocent?” See E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 149.
- Genesis 20:5 tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 20:5 tn Heb “and she, even she.”
- Genesis 20:5 tn Heb “with the integrity of my heart.”
- Genesis 20:6 tn Heb “with the integrity of your heart.”
- Genesis 20:6 tn Heb “and I, even I, kept you.”
- Genesis 20:6 tn Heb “therefore.”
- Genesis 20:7 tn Or “for,” if the particle is understood as causal (as many English translations do) rather than asseverative.
- Genesis 20:7 sn For a discussion of the term prophet see N. Walker, “What is a Nabhi?” ZAW 73 (1961): 99-100.
- Genesis 20:7 tn After the preceding jussive (or imperfect), the imperative with vav conjunctive here indicates result.sn He will pray for you that you may live. Abraham was known as a man of God whose prayer would be effectual. Ironically and sadly, he was also known as a liar.
- Genesis 20:7 tn Heb “if there is not you returning.” The suffix on the particle becomes the subject of the negated clause.
- Genesis 20:7 tn The imperfect is preceded by the infinitive absolute to make the warning emphatic.
- Genesis 20:8 tn Heb “And Abimelech rose early in the morning and he summoned.”
- Genesis 20:8 tn The verb קָרָא (qaraʾ) followed by the preposition ל (lamed) means “to summon.”
- Genesis 20:8 tn Heb “And he spoke all these things in their ears.”
- Genesis 20:8 tn Heb “the men.” This has been replaced by the pronoun “they” in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Genesis 20:9 tn Heb “How did I sin against you that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin?” The expression “great sin” refers to adultery. For discussion of the cultural background of the passage, see J. J. Rabinowitz, “The Great Sin in Ancient Egyptian Marriage Contracts,” JNES 18 (1959): 73, and W. L. Moran, “The Scandal of the ‘Great Sin’ at Ugarit,” JNES 18 (1959): 280-81.
- Genesis 20:9 tn Heb “Deeds which should not be done you have done to me.” The imperfect has an obligatory nuance here.
- Genesis 20:10 tn Heb “And Abimelech said to.”
- Genesis 20:10 tn Heb “What did you see that you did this thing?” The question implies that Abraham had some motive for deceiving Abimelech.
- Genesis 20:11 tn Heb “Because I said.”
- Genesis 20:11 tn Heb “over the matter of.”
- Genesis 20:12 tn Heb “but also.”
- Genesis 20:13 tn The Hebrew verb is plural. This may be a case of grammatical agreement with the name for God, which is plural in form. However, when this plural name refers to the one true God, accompanying predicates are usually singular in form. Perhaps Abraham is accommodating his speech to Abimelech’s polytheistic perspective. (See GKC 463 §145.i.) If so, one should translate, “when the gods made me wander.”
- Genesis 20:13 tn Heb “This is your loyal deed which you can do for me.”
- Genesis 20:14 tn Heb “took and gave.”
- Genesis 20:15 tn Heb “In the [place that is] good in your eyes live!”
- Genesis 20:16 sn A thousand pieces [Heb “shekels”] of silver. The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of silver here 11.5 kilograms, or 400 ounces (about 25 pounds).
- Genesis 20:16 sn To your ‘brother.’ Note the way that the king refers to Abraham. Was he being sarcastic? It was surely a rebuke to Sarah. What is amazing is how patient this king was. It is proof that the fear of God was in that place, contrary to what Abraham believed (see v. 11).
- Genesis 20:16 tn Heb “Look, it is for you a covering of the eyes, for all who are with you, and with all, and you are set right.” The exact meaning of the statement is unclear. Apparently it means that the gift of money somehow exonerates her in other people’s eyes. They will not look on her as compromised (see G. J. Wenham, Genesis [WBC], 2:74).
- Genesis 20:18 tn In the Hebrew text the clause begins with “because.”
- Genesis 20:18 tn Heb had completely closed up every womb.” In the Hebrew text infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.sn The Lord had closed up every womb. This fact indicates that Sarah was in Abimelech’s household for weeks or months before the dream revelation was given (20:6-7). No one in his household could have children after Sarah arrived on the scene.
- Genesis 20:18 tn Heb “because of the matter of.” The words “he took” are used in the translation for clarity.
创世记 20
Chinese New Version (Simplified)
亚伯拉罕与亚比米勒
20 亚伯拉罕从那里迁到南地，就住在加低斯和书珥中间。亚伯拉罕寄居在基拉耳的时候， 2 曾经提到他的妻子撒拉说：“她是我的妹妹。”于是基拉耳王亚比米勒派人来把撒拉取了去。 3 当夜， 神在梦中来到亚比米勒那里，对他说：“你该死，因为你接来的那女人，是个有夫之妇。” 4 亚比米勒还没有亲近撒拉，所以他说：“我主啊，连正义的人你也要杀害吗？ 5 那人岂不是自己对我说：‘她是我的妹妹’吗？就是那女人自己也说：‘他是我的哥哥’。我作这事，是手洁心清的。” 6 神在梦中对他说：“我也知道你作这事，是问心无愧的，所以我也阻止你，免得你得罪我。因此我不容许你接触她。 7 现在你要把那人的妻子还给他，因为他是先知，他要为你祷告，你才可以存活。你若不还给他，你当知道，你和所有属你的，都死定了。”
8 亚比米勒清早起来，召了他的众臣仆来，把这一切都说给他们听，以致他们都很惧怕。 9 亚比米勒把亚伯拉罕召了来，对他说：“你为甚么向我们这样行呢？我在甚么事上得罪了你，以致你给我和我的国带来这个大罪呢？你对我作了不应该作的事。” 10 亚比米勒又对亚伯拉罕说：“你为了甚么缘故要这样作呢？” 11 亚伯拉罕回答：“因为我以为这地方必定没有敬畏 神的人，他们会因我妻子的缘故杀我。 12 何况她也实在是我的妹妹；她原是我同父异母的妹妹，后来作了我的妻子。 13 神叫我离开我父家，在外飘流的时候，我对她说：‘我们无论到甚么地方去，你都要对人说：“他是我的哥哥。”这就是你待我的恩情了。’” 14 亚比米勒取了些牛羊、仆婢，送给亚伯拉罕，又把亚伯拉罕的妻子撒拉还给他。 15 亚比米勒说：“看哪，我的国土都在你面前，你喜欢哪里，就住在哪里吧。”
16 他又对撒拉说：“看哪，我给了你哥哥一千银子，作你在全家人面前的遮羞钱（“遮羞钱”直译是“眼睛的遮盖”；原文意思不确定；或译：“清白的证明”）。这样，你在众人面前就算清白了。” 17 亚伯拉罕祷告 神， 神就医好了亚比米勒和他的妻子，以及他的众婢女，使她们能生育。 18 因为耶和华为了亚伯拉罕妻子撒拉的缘故，曾经使亚比米勒家中所有的妇女，都不能生育。
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