Genesis 20

₁Abraham went away from the town of Mamre and he moved to the southern part of the land of Canaan. He went to stay between the towns of Kadesh and Shur. Later he went to the town of Gerar. ₂When he came into Gerar, he told everyone that his wife Sarah was his sister. King Abimelek of Gerar sent his officials and took Sarah to be his wife.

₃When King Abimelek was sleeping, God talked to him in a dream and God said to him: ‘You want to take Sarah to be your wife, but she is a married woman. If you take her, you will die.’

₄King Abimelek had not yet slept with Sarah and he said to the Lord: ‘Please, Lord, do not kill me. I have not slept with Sarah. ₅Abraham said Sarah was his sister and Sarah said Abraham was her brother. I have not done anything wrong. I am innocent.’

₆Then God said: ‘I know that you are innocent. That is why I have stopped you so that you did not sleep with Sarah and do something wrong. ₇Abraham is her husband. He is a prophet. You must tell Sarah that she must go back to Abraham. Abraham will pray for you and you will not die. But if you do not give her back to Abraham, you and all your people will die.’

₈Early the next morning King Abimelek called all his officials and he told them what had happened. They were afraid. ₉Then King Abimelek called Abraham and he said to Abraham: ‘You have done a bad thing to us. I have never done a bad thing to you. Why did you make me and my people guilty of a big sin like this? ₁₀What were you thinking when you did this?’

₁₁Abraham said to the king: ‘I said she was my sister because I was afraid. I did not think that your people believed in God. I was afraid that someone would kill me to get my wife. ₁₂But Sarah is my half-sister. We have the same father but not the same mother and I married her. ₁₃When God took me away from my father's family I said to Sarah: “If you really love me, then you must tell everyone that I am your brother.” ’

₁₄King Abimelek gave Abraham sheep, cattle and slaves and he told Sarah to go back to Abraham. ₁₅King Abimelek told Abraham that he could stay at any place in his land where he wanted to stay.

₁₆Then King Abimelek said to Sarah: ‘I have given your brother 1 000 pieces_of_silver to show everyone that you have done nothing wrong.’

_17-18Before Abraham went there, King Abimelek and his wife and his slave women could not have any children. But Abraham prayed for them and God blessed them and they started having children.