Genesis 19:30-20:18

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

The Shameful Origin of Moab and Ammon

³⁰ Now Lot went up out of Zoar and settled in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar, so he lived in a cave with his two daughters. ³¹ And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the world.^{(A) 32} Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.”^{(B) 33} So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she rose. ³⁴ On the next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.” ³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger rose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she rose. ³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son and named him Moab;^[a] he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi;^[b] he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.^(C)

Abraham and Sarah at Gerar

20 From there Abraham journeyed toward the region of the Negeb and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While residing in Gerar as an alien,^{(D) 2} Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” And King Abimelech of Gerar sent and took Sarah.^{(E) 3} But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “You are about to die because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a married woman.”^{(F) 4} Now Abimelech had not approached her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent people? ⁵ Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I did this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.”^{(G) 6} Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart; furthermore, it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all that are yours.”^(H)

⁸ So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things, and the men were very much afraid. ⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that ought not to be done.”^{(I) 10} And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What were you thinking, that you did this thing?” ¹¹ Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.^{(J) 12} Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. ¹³ And 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.’ ”^{(K) 14} Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham and restored his wife Sarah to him.^{(L) 15} Abimelech said, “My land is before you; settle where it pleases you.”^{(M) 16} To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; it is your exoneration before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children.^{(N) 18} For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.^(O)