Genesis 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 servants, 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.” 17Then Abraham prayed to God, and God restored Abimelech to health, and his wife and female servants 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.