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Abraham Goes to Gerar

¹ Abraham left that place and traveled to the Negev. He settled in the city of Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur. While in Gerar, ² Abraham told people that Sarah was his sister. King Abimelech of Gerar heard this. Abimelech wanted Sarah, so he sent some servants to take her. ³ But one night God spoke to Abimelech in a dream and said, "You will die. The woman you took is married."

⁴ But Abimelech had not yet slept with Sarah, so he said, "Lord, I am not guilty. Would you kill an innocent man? ⁵ Abraham himself told me, ‘This woman is my sister,' and she also said, ‘This man is my brother.' I am innocent. I did not know what I was doing."

⁶ Then God said to Abimelech in a dream, "Yes, I know that you are innocent and that you did not know what you were doing. I saved you. I did not allow you to sin against me. I was the one who did not allow you to sleep with her. ⁷ So give Abraham his wife again. He is a prophet. He will pray for you, and you will live. But if you don't give Sarah back to him, I promise that you will die. And all your family will die with you."

⁸ So very early the next morning, Abimelech called all his servants and told them about the dream. The servants were very afraid. ⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, "Why have you done this to us? What wrong did I do to you? Why did you lie and say that she was your sister? You brought great trouble to my kingdom. You should not have done this to me. ¹⁰ What were you afraid of? Why did you do this to me?"

¹¹ Then Abraham said, "I thought no one in this place respected God. I thought someone would kill me to get Sarah. ¹² She is my wife, but she is also my sister. She is the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother. ¹³ God led me away from my father's house. He led me to wander to many different places. When that happened, I told Sarah, ‘Do something for me. Wherever we go, tell people you are my sister.'"

¹⁴ So Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham. Abimelech also gave Abraham some sheep, cattle, and slaves. ¹⁵ And Abimelech said, "Look all around you. This is my land. You may live any place you want."

¹⁶ Abimelech said to Sarah, "I gave your brother Abraham 1000 pieces of silver. I did this to show that I am very sorry. I want everyone to see that I did the right thing."^17-18 The Lord made all the women in Abimelech's family not able to have children. God did this because Abimelech had taken Sarah, Abraham's wife. But Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his servant girls.