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.
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.”