Skip to the text

Genesis · Young's Literal Translation

Genesis 20 Young's Literal Translation

Leer en español
About YLT
  • Individual translator
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Textus Receptus
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Very literal
  • 1898
  • Public domain

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

1 And Abraham journeyeth from thence toward the land of the south, and dwelleth between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourneth in Gerar; 2 and Abraham saith concerning Sarah his wife, 'She is my sister;' and Abimelech king of Gerar sendeth and taketh Sarah. 3 And God cometh in unto Abimelech in a dream of the night, and saith to him, 'Lo, thou [art] a dead man, because of the woman whom thou hast taken — and she married to a husband.' 4 And Abimelech hath not drawn near unto her, and he saith, 'Lord, also a righteous nation dost thou slay? 5 hath not he himself said to me, She [is] my sister! and she, even she herself, said, He [is] my brother; in the integrity of my heart, and in the innocency of my hands, I have done this.' 6 And God saith unto him in the dream, 'Yea, I — I have known that in the integrity of thy heart thou hast done this, and I withhold thee, even I, from sinning against Me, therefore I have not suffered thee to come against her; 7 and now send back the man's wife, for he [is] inspired, and he doth pray for thee, and live thou; and if thou do not send back, know that dying thou dost die, thou, and all that thou hast.' 8 And Abimelech riseth early in the morning, and calleth for all his servants, and speaketh all these words in their ears; and the men fear exceedingly; 9 and Abimelech calleth for Abraham, and saith to him, 'What hast thou done to us? and what have I sinned against thee, that thou hast brought upon me, and upon my kingdom, a great sin? works which are not done thou hast done with me.' 10 Abimelech also saith unto Abraham, 'What hast thou seen that thou hast done this thing?' 11 And Abraham saith, 'Because I said, 'Surely the fear of God is not in this place, and they have slain me for the sake of my wife; 12 and also, truly she is my sister, daughter of my father, only not daughter of my mother, and she becometh my wife; 13 and it cometh to pass, when God hath caused me to wander from my father's house, that I say to her, This [is] thy kindness which thou dost with me: at every place whither we come, say of me, He [is] my brother.' 14 And Abimelech taketh sheep and oxen, and servants and handmaids, and giveth to Abraham, and sendeth back to him Sarah his wife; 15 and Abimelech saith, 'Lo, my land [is] before thee, where it is good in thine eyes, dwell;' 16 and to Sarah he hath said, 'Lo, I have given a thousand silverlings to thy brother; lo, it is to thee a covering of eyes, to all who are with thee;' and by all this she is reasoned with. 17 And Abraham prayeth unto God, and God healeth Abimelech and his wife, and his handmaids, and they bear: 18 for Jehovah restraining had restrained every womb 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)