20:1 Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev 1 region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident 2 in Gerar, 20:2 Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.
20:3 But God appeared 3 to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “You are as good as dead 4 because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife.” 5
20:4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, “Lord, 6 would you really slaughter an innocent nation? 7 20:5 Did Abraham 8 not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, 9 ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience 10 and with innocent hands!”
20:6 Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience. 11 That is why I have kept you 12 from sinning against me and why 13 I did not allow you to touch her. 20:7 But now give back the man’s wife. Indeed 14 he is a prophet 15 and he will pray for you; thus you will live. 16 But if you don’t give her back, 17 know that you will surely die 18 along with all who belong to you.”
20:8 Early in the morning 19 Abimelech summoned 20 all his servants. When he told them about all these things, 21 they 22 were terrified. 20:9 Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What sin did I commit against you that would cause you to bring such great guilt on me and my kingdom? 23 You have done things to me that should not be done!” 24 20:10 Then Abimelech asked 25 Abraham, “What prompted you to do this thing?” 26
20:11 Abraham replied, “Because I thought, 27 ‘Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of 28 my wife.’ 20:12 What’s more, 29 she is indeed my sister, my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter. She became my wife. 20:13 When God made me wander 30 from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: 31 Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”
20:14 So Abimelech gave 32 sheep, cattle, and male and female servants to Abraham. He also gave his wife Sarah back to him. 20:15 Then Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you; live wherever you please.” 33
20:16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver 34 to your ‘brother.’ 35 This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.” 36
20:17 Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, as well as his wife and female slaves so that they were able to have children. 20:18 For the Lord 37 had caused infertility to strike every woman 38 in the household of Abimelech because he took 39 Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
17:1 When Abram was 99 years old, 40 the Lord appeared to him and said, 41 “I am the sovereign God. 42 Walk 43 before me 44 and be blameless. 45
A psalm of David.
24:1 The Lord owns the earth and all it contains,
the world and all who live in it.
83:18 Then they will know 47 that you alone are the Lord, 48
the sovereign king 49 over all the earth.
57:15 For this is what the high and exalted one says,
the one who rules 50 forever, whose name is holy:
“I dwell in an exalted and holy place,
but also with the discouraged and humiliated, 51
in order to cheer up the humiliated
and to encourage the discouraged. 52
4:34 But at the end of the appointed time 53 I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up 54 toward heaven, and my sanity returned to me.
I extolled the Most High,
and I praised and glorified the one who lives forever.
For his authority is an everlasting authority,
and his kingdom extends from one generation to the next.
1 tn Or “the South [country]”; Heb “the land of the Negev.”
2 tn Heb “and he sojourned.”
3 tn Heb “came.”
4 tn Heb “Look, you [are] dead.” The Hebrew construction uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with a second person pronominal particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with by the participle. It is a highly rhetorical expression.
5 tn Heb “and she is owned by an owner.” The disjunctive clause is causal or explanatory in this case.
6 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
7 tn Apparently Abimelech assumes that God’s judgment will fall on his entire nation. Some, finding the reference to a nation problematic, prefer to emend the text and read, “Would you really kill someone who is innocent?” See E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 149.
8 tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “and she, even she.”
10 tn Heb “with the integrity of my heart.”
11 tn Heb “with the integrity of your heart.”
12 tn Heb “and I, even I, kept you.”
13 tn Heb “therefore.”
14 tn Or “for,” if the particle is understood as causal (as many English translations do) rather than asseverative.
15 sn For a discussion of the term prophet see N. Walker, “What is a Nabhi?” ZAW 73 (1961): 99-100.
16 tn After the preceding jussive (or imperfect), the imperative with vav conjunctive here indicates result.
17 tn Heb “if there is not you returning.” The suffix on the particle becomes the subject of the negated clause.
18 tn The imperfect is preceded by the infinitive absolute to make the warning emphatic.
19 tn Heb “And Abimelech rose early in the morning and he summoned.”
20 tn The verb קָרָא (qara’) followed by the preposition לְ (lamed) means “to summon.”
21 tn Heb “And he spoke all these things in their ears.”
22 tn Heb “the men.” This has been replaced by the pronoun “they” in the translation for stylistic reasons.
23 tn Heb “How did I sin against you that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin?” The expression “great sin” refers to adultery. For discussion of the cultural background of the passage, see J. J. Rabinowitz, “The Great Sin in Ancient Egyptian Marriage Contracts,” JNES 18 (1959): 73, and W. L. Moran, “The Scandal of the ‘Great Sin’ at Ugarit,” JNES 18 (1959): 280-81.
24 tn Heb “Deeds which should not be done you have done to me.” The imperfect has an obligatory nuance here.
25 tn Heb “And Abimelech said to.”
26 tn Heb “What did you see that you did this thing?” The question implies that Abraham had some motive for deceiving Abimelech.
27 tn Heb “Because I said.”
28 tn Heb “over the matter of.”
29 tn Heb “but also.”
30 tn The Hebrew verb is plural. This may be a case of grammatical agreement with the name for God, which is plural in form. However, when this plural name refers to the one true God, accompanying predicates are usually singular in form. Perhaps Abraham is accommodating his speech to Abimelech’s polytheistic perspective. (See GKC 463 §145.i.) If so, one should translate, “when the gods made me wander.”
31 tn Heb “This is your loyal deed which you can do for me.”
32 tn Heb “took and gave.”
33 tn Heb “In the [place that is] good in your eyes live!”
34 sn A thousand pieces [Heb “shekels”] of silver. The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of silver here 11.5 kilograms, or 400 ounces (about 25 pounds).
35 sn To your ‘brother.’ Note the way that the king refers to Abraham. Was he being sarcastic? It was surely a rebuke to Sarah. What is amazing is how patient this king was. It is proof that the fear of God was in that place, contrary to what Abraham believed (see v. 11).
36 tn Heb “Look, it is for you a covering of the eyes, for all who are with you, and with all, and you are set right.” The exact meaning of the statement is unclear. Apparently it means that the gift of money somehow exonerates her in other people’s eyes. They will not look on her as compromised (see G. J. Wenham, Genesis [WBC], 2:74).
37 tn In the Hebrew text the clause begins with “because.”
38 tn Heb had completely closed up every womb.” In the Hebrew text infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
39 tn Heb “because of.” The words “he took” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
40 tn Heb “the son of ninety-nine years.”
41 tn Heb “appeared to Abram and said to him.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) and the final phrase “to him” has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
42 tn The name אֵל שַׁדַּי (’el shadday, “El Shaddai”) has often been translated “God Almighty,” primarily because Jerome translated it omnipotens (“all powerful”) in the Latin Vulgate. There has been much debate over the meaning of the name. For discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names Shaddai and Abram,” JBL 54 (1935): 173-210; R. Gordis, “The Biblical Root sdy-sd,” JTS 41 (1940): 34-43; and especially T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72. Shaddai/El Shaddai is the sovereign king of the world who grants, blesses, and judges. In the Book of Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he both blesses/protects and takes away life/happiness. The patriarchs knew God primarily as El Shaddai (Exod 6:3). While the origin and meaning of this name are uncertain (see discussion below) its significance is clear. The name is used in contexts where God appears as the source of fertility and life. In Gen 17:1-8 he appeared to Abram, introduced himself as El Shaddai, and announced his intention to make the patriarch fruitful. In the role of El Shaddai God repeated these words (now elevated to the status of a decree) to Jacob (35:11). Earlier Isaac had pronounced a blessing on Jacob in which he asked El Shaddai to make Jacob fruitful (28:3). Jacob later prayed that his sons would be treated with mercy when they returned to Egypt with Benjamin (43:14). The fertility theme is not as apparent here, though one must remember that Jacob viewed Benjamin as the sole remaining son of the favored and once-barren Rachel (see 29:31; 30:22-24; 35:16-18). It is quite natural that he would appeal to El Shaddai to preserve Benjamin’s life, for it was El Shaddai’s miraculous power which made it possible for Rachel to give him sons in the first place. In 48:3 Jacob, prior to blessing Joseph’s sons, told him how El Shaddai appeared to him at Bethel (see Gen 28) and promised to make him fruitful. When blessing Joseph on his deathbed Jacob referred to Shaddai (we should probably read “El Shaddai,” along with a few Hebrew
43 tn Or “Live out your life.” The Hebrew verb translated “walk” is the Hitpael; it means “to walk back and forth; to walk about; to live out one’s life.”
44 tn Or “in my presence.”
45 tn There are two imperatives here: “walk…and be blameless [or “perfect”].” The second imperative may be purely sequential (see the translation) or consequential: “walk before me and then you will be blameless.” How one interprets the sequence depends on the meaning of “walk before”: (1) If it simply refers in a neutral way to serving the
46 sn Psalm 24. The psalmist affirms the universal kingship of the sovereign creator, reminds his people that only the morally pure are qualified to worship him, and celebrates his splendor as a mighty warrior king.
47 tn After the preceding jussives (v. 17), the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose (“so that they may know”) or result.
48 tn Heb “that you, your name [is] the
49 tn Traditionally “the Most High.”
50 tn Heb “the one who dwells forever.” שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) is sometimes translated “the one who lives forever,” and understood as a reference to God’s eternal existence. However, the immediately preceding and following descriptions (“high and exalted” and “holy”) emphasize his sovereign rule. In the next line, he declares, “I dwell in an exalted and holy [place],” which refers to the place from which he rules. Therefore it is more likely that שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) means “I dwell [in my lofty palace] forever” and refers to God’s eternal kingship.
51 tn Heb “and also with the crushed and lowly of spirit.” This may refer to the repentant who have humbled themselves (see 66:2) or more generally to the exiles who have experienced discouragement and humiliation.
52 tn Heb “to restore the lowly of spirit and to restore the heart of the crushed.”
53 tn Aram “days.”
54 tn Aram “lifted up my eyes.”