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Abraham Tricks Abimelech

¹ Abraham left Hebron and traveled to southern Canaan where he stayed awhile between Kadesh and Shur. When he moved to Gerar, ² he told people that his wife Sarah was his sister. Abimelech king of Gerar heard this, 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 gone near Sarah, so he said, "Lord, would you destroy an innocent nation? ⁵ Abraham himself told me, ‘This woman is my sister,' and she also said, ‘He is my brother.' I am innocent. I did not know I was doing anything wrong."

⁶ Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, "Yes, I know you did not realize what you were doing. So I did not allow you to sin against me and touch her. ⁷ Give Abraham his wife back. He is a prophet. He will pray for you, and you will not die. But if you do not give Sarah back, you and all your family will surely die."

⁸ So early the next morning, Abimelech called all his officers and told them everything that had happened in the dream. They were very afraid. ⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham to him and said, "What have you done to us? What wrong did I do against you? Why did you bring this trouble to my kingdom? You should not have done these things to me. ¹⁰ What were you thinking that caused you to do this?"

¹¹ Then Abraham answered, "I thought no one in this place respected God and that someone would kill me to get Sarah. ¹² And it is true that she is my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but she is not the daughter of my mother. ¹³ When God told me to leave my father's house and wander in many different places, I told Sarah, ‘You must do a special favor for me. Everywhere we go tell people I am your brother.'"

¹⁴ Then Abimelech gave Abraham some sheep, cattle, and male and female slaves. He also gave Sarah, Abraham's wife, back to him ¹⁵ and said, "Look around you at my land. You may live anywhere you want."

¹⁶ Abimelech said to Sarah, "I gave your brother Abraham twenty-five pounds of silver to make up for any wrong that people may think about you. I want everyone to know that you are innocent."

¹⁷ Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his servant girls so they could have children. ¹⁸ The Lord had kept all the women in Abimelech's house from having children as a punishment on Abimelech for taking Abraham's wife Sarah.