⁶ So Isaac lived in Gerar.

Isaac Lies about His Wife

⁷ Later on, the men of that place asked about his wife, so he replied, “She’s my sister,” because he was afraid to call her “my wife.” He kept thinking, “…otherwise, the men around here will kill me on account of Rebekah, since she’s very beautiful.”

⁸ After he had been there awhile, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out through a window and saw Isaac caressing^[a] his wife Rebekah.

⁹ So Abimelech called Isaac and confronted him. “She is definitely your wife!” he accused him, “So why did you claim, ‘She’s my sister?’”

Isaac responded, “Because I had thought ‘…otherwise, I’ll die on account of her.’”

¹⁰ “What have you done to us?” Abimelech asked. “Any minute now, one of the people could have had sex with your wife and you would have caused all of us to be guilty.” ¹¹ So he issued this order to everyone: “Whoever touches this man or his wife is to be executed.”