Genèse 20

¹Abraham set out from there toward the southern country of the Negev. He settled between Kadesh and Shur, and for a time he lived as a foreigner in Gerar. ²There Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech, the king of Gerar, sent men to fetch Sarah and took her into his household. ³But that night God came to Abimelech in a dream. “You are as good as dead,” he told him, “because of the woman you have taken. She already has a husband.” ⁴Abimelech had not touched her. He said, “Lord, would you put to death a people who have done no wrong? ⁵It was he who told me, ‘She is my sister,’ and she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ My heart was honest and my hands were innocent when I did this.” ⁶God answered him in the dream, “Yes, I know you acted with an honest heart, and it was I who held you back from sinning against me, and so I gave you no chance to touch her. ⁷Now give the man back his wife. He is a prophet, and he will pray for you so that you live. But if you do not return her, know for certain that death awaits you and everyone who belongs to you.” ⁸Abimelech got up at dawn, called together all his officials and repeated all of this to them, and the men were badly frightened. ⁹Then Abimelech sent for Abraham. “What have you done to us?” he said. “What wrong did I ever do you, that you should expose me and my kingdom to so great a sin? You have treated me in a way no one should ever be treated.” ¹⁰Abimelech pressed him: “What did you have in mind when you did this?” ¹¹Abraham answered, “I told myself that nobody here feared God, and that they would kill me to get my wife. ¹²And in fact she is my sister: my father’s daughter, though she had a different mother. Then she became my wife. ¹³When God sent me wandering away from my father’s house, I asked her to prove her loyalty to me by saying, wherever we went, that I was her brother.” ¹⁴Then Abimelech gave Abraham sheep and cattle and slaves, both men and women, and he handed his wife Sarah back to him. ¹⁵And Abimelech said, “My land lies open to you. Settle anywhere that pleases you.” ¹⁶To Sarah he said, “I have given your brother about 25 pounds of silver. Let it show everyone with you that you have done no wrong. In the eyes of all you are cleared.”^{ab 17}Then Abraham prayed to God, and God restored Abimelech to health, and his wife and slave women too, and they were able to bear children. ¹⁸For on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah, the LORD had closed every womb in Abimelech’s household.