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Genesis · Darby Translation

Genesis 20 Darby Translation

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About Darby
  • Protestant
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Critical text
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Very literal
  • 1890
  • Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

1 And Abraham departed thence towards the south country, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned at Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech the king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art [but] a dead man, because of the woman that thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife. 4 But Abimelech had not come near her. And he said, Lord, wilt thou also kill a righteous nation? 5 Did he not say to me, She is my sister? and she, even she said, He is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and in the innocency of my hands have I done this. 6 And God said to him in a dream, I also knew that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart, and I, too, have withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore have I not suffered thee to touch her. 7 And now, restore the man's wife; for he is a prophet, and will pray for thee, that thou mayest live. And if thou do not restore [her], know that thou shalt certainly die, thou and all that is thine. 8 And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and spoke all these words in their ears; and the men were greatly afraid. 9 And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, What hast thou done to us? And in what have I sinned against thee, that thou hast brought on me, and on my kingdom, a great sin? Thou hast done to me deeds that ought not to be done. 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What hast thou seen that thou hast done this? 11 And Abraham said, Because I said, Surely the fear of God is not in this place, and they will kill me for my wife's sake. 12 But she is also truly my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And it came to pass when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, Let this be thy kindness which thou shalt shew to me: at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. 14 And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and bondmen and bondwomen, and gave [them] to Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. 15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it is good in thine eyes. 16 And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand [pieces] of silver; behold, let that be to thee a covering of the eyes, in respect of all that are with thee, and with all; and she was reproved. 17 And Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and his wife and his handmaids, and they bore [children]. 18 For Jehovah had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah Abraham's wife.

People & places in this chapter

From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.

People

  • Abimelech

    King of Gerar

    King of Gerar who took Sarah, was warned by God in a dream and returned her to Abraham, and made a covenant with Abraham at Beersheba; an Abimelech king of the Philistines at…

    Cited in the guide: Genesis 20:2–3; Genesis 21:22–27; Genesis 26:1

  • Abraham

    Father of nations

    Called by God, he left home in faith to become the father of a chosen people.

    Cited in the guide: Genesis 12–25

  • Sarah

    Matriarch, mother of Isaac

    Wife of Abraham who bore Isaac in her old age, long after hope seemed gone.

    Cited in the guide: Genesis 17-21

Cross references (16)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

  1. 1 Genesis 26:6; Genesis 26:1; Psalm 29:8; 2 Chronicles 14:13–14; Genesis 18:1
  2. 2 Genesis 12:15; Genesis 26:7; Genesis 12:11–13; Proverbs 24:16; Genesis 20:12
  3. 3 Genesis 20:7; Matthew 27:19; Job 33:15; Psalm 105:14; Genesis 28:12
  4. 4 Genesis 18:23–25; 1 Chronicles 21:17; 2 Samuel 4:11; Genesis 20:6; Genesis 19:24
  5. 5 Psalm 7:8; 1 Kings 9:4; Proverbs 11:3; Proverbs 20:7; 1 Thessalonians 2:10
  6. 6 1 Samuel 25:34; 1 Samuel 25:26; Proverbs 21:1; Genesis 35:5; Genesis 31:7
  7. 7 Job 42:8; 1 Samuel 7:5; Hebrews 13:4; 2 Samuel 24:17; Revelation 11:5–6
  8. 9 Genesis 12:18; Genesis 39:9; Genesis 26:10; 2 Samuel 13:12; Romans 2:11
  9. 11 Genesis 26:7; Genesis 12:12; Psalm 36:1–4; Proverbs 2:5; Genesis 42:18
  10. 12 Genesis 11:29; Genesis 12:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:22
  11. 13 Genesis 12:1; Genesis 12:9; Acts 7:3–5; Psalm 64:5; Acts 5:9
  12. 14 Genesis 12:16; Genesis 20:2; Genesis 12:19–20; Genesis 20:11; Genesis 20:7
  13. 15 Genesis 13:9; Genesis 34:10; Genesis 47:6
  14. 16 Genesis 20:5; Proverbs 27:5; Genesis 24:65; Jonah 1:6; Revelation 3:19
  15. 17 James 5:16; Job 42:9–10; Proverbs 15:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:25; Philippians 4:6
  16. 18 Genesis 12:17; Genesis 30:2; Genesis 16:2; 1 Samuel 1:6; Genesis 20:7

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

  1. Quotes verse 20:12 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (Book XVI, Chapters 29–32)

    … when the king rebuked Abraham for not saying she was his wife, and calling her his sister, he explained what he had been afraid of, and added this further, "And yet indeed she is my sister by the father's side, but not by the mother's; for she was Abraham's sister by his own father, and so near of kin.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)