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| 20 | Genesis |
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| 1 |
ABRAHAM JOURNEYED BY STAGES from there into the Negeb, and settled between Kadesh and Shur, living as an alien in Gerar. | Gerar - Abraham and Abimelech. Gn.20.1-18 |
| 2 |
He said that Sarah his wife was his sister, and Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took her. | |
| 3 |
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said, 'You shall die because of this woman whom you have taken. She is a married woman.' | |
| 4 |
Now Abimelech had not gone near her; and he said, 'Lord, wilt thou destroy an innocent people? | |
| 5 |
Did he not tell me himself that she was his sister, and she herself said that he was her brother. It was with a clear conscience and in all innocence that I did this.' | |
| 6 |
God said to him in the dream, 'Yes: I know that you acted with a clear conscience. Moreover, it was I who held you back from committing a sin against me: that is why I did not let you touch her. | |
| 7 |
Send back the man's wife now; he is a prophet, and he will intercede on your behalf, and you shall live. But if you do not send her back, I tell you that you are doomed to die, you and all that is yours.' | |
| 8 |
So Abimelech rose early in the morning, summoned all his servants and told them the whole story ; the men were terrified. | |
| 9 |
Abimelech then summoned Abraham and said to him, 'Why have you treated us like this? What harm have I done to you that you should bring this great sin on me and my kingdom? You have done a thing that ought not to be done.' | |
| 10 |
And he asked Abraham, 'What was your purpose in doing this?' | |
| 11 |
Abraham answered, 'I said to myself, There can be no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me for the sake of my wife. | |
| 12 |
She is in fact my sister, she is my father's daughter though not by the same mother; and she became my wife. | |
| 13 |
When God set me wandering from my father's house, I said to her, "There is a duty towards me which you must loyally fulfil: wherever we go, you must say that I am your brother." ' | |
| 14 |
Then Abimelech took sheep and cattle, and male and female slaves, gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him. | |
| 15 |
Abimelech said, 'My country lies before you; settle wherever you please.' | |
| 16 |
To Sarah he said, 'I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver, so that your own people may turn a blind eye on it all, and you will be completely vindicated.' | |
| 17 |
Then Abraham interceded with God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his slave-girls, and they bore children; | |
| 18 |
for the LORD had made every woman in Abimelech's household barren on account of Abraham's wife Sarah. | |
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