[1] From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar.
[2] And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
[3] But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”
[4] Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people?
[5] Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.”
[6] Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.
[7] Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
[8] So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid.
[9] Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.”
[10] And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?”
[11] Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.
[12] Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.
[13] And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother.’”
[14] Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him.
[15] And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.”
[16] To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.”
[17] Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children.
[18] For the LORD had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.