Genesis 20:1-18

Abraham and Abimelech

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.

Genesis 3:24

3:24 When he drove ⁴⁰  the man out, he placed on the eastern side ⁴¹  of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries ⁴²  who used the flame of a whirling sword ⁴³  to guard the way to the tree of life.

John 4:14

4:14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, ⁴⁴  but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain ⁴⁵  of water springing up ⁴⁶  to eternal life.”

John 4:1

Departure From Judea

4:1 Now when Jesus ⁴⁷  knew that the Pharisees ⁴⁸  had heard that he ⁴⁹  was winning ⁵⁰  and baptizing more disciples than John

John 1:23

1:23 John ⁵¹  said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight ⁵²  the way for the Lord,’ ⁵³  as Isaiah the prophet said.”

John 1:2

1:2 The Word ⁵⁴  was with God in the beginning.

John 1:2

1:2 The Word ⁵⁵  was with God in the beginning.

[20:1]  ¹ tn Or “the South [country]”; Heb “the land of the Negev.”

[20:1]  ² tn Heb “and he sojourned.”

[20:3]  ³ tn Heb “came.”

[20:3]  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.

[20:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and she is owned by an owner.” The disjunctive clause is causal or explanatory in this case.

[20:4]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[20:4]  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.

[20:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and she, even she.”

[20:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with the integrity of my heart.”

[20:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “with the integrity of your heart.”

[20:6]  ¹² tn Heb “and I, even I, kept you.”

[20:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “therefore.”

[20:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “for,” if the particle is understood as causal (as many English translations do) rather than asseverative.

[20:7]  ¹⁵ sn For a discussion of the term prophet see N. Walker, “What is a Nabhi?” ZAW 73 (1961): 99-100.

[20:7]  ¹⁶ tn After the preceding jussive (or imperfect), the imperative with vav conjunctive here indicates result.

[20:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “if there is not you returning.” The suffix on the particle becomes the subject of the negated clause.

[20:7]  ¹⁸ tn The imperfect is preceded by the infinitive absolute to make the warning emphatic.

[20:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And Abimelech rose early in the morning and he summoned.”

[20:8]  ²⁰ tn The verb קָרָא (qara’) followed by the preposition לְ (lamed) means “to summon.”

[20:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “And he spoke all these things in their ears.”

[20:8]  ²² tn Heb “the men.” This has been replaced by the pronoun “they” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[20:9]  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.

[20:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Deeds which should not be done you have done to me.” The imperfect has an obligatory nuance here.

[20:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “And Abimelech said to.”

[20:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “What did you see that you did this thing?” The question implies that Abraham had some motive for deceiving Abimelech.

[20:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Because I said.”

[20:11]  ²⁸ tn Heb “over the matter of.”

[20:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “but also.”

[20:13]  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.”

[20:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “This is your loyal deed which you can do for me.”

[20:14]  ³² tn Heb “took and gave.”

[20:15]  ³³ tn Heb “In the [place that is] good in your eyes live!”

[20:16]  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).

[20:16]  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).

[20:16]  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).

[20:18]  ³⁷ tn In the Hebrew text the clause begins with “because.”

[20:18]  ³⁸ tn Heb had completely closed up every womb.” In the Hebrew text infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[20:18]  ³⁹ tn Heb “because of.” The words “he took” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[3:24]  ⁴⁰ tn The verb with the vav (ו) consecutive is made subordinate to the next verb forming a temporal clause. This avoids any tautology with the previous verse that already stated that the Lord expelled the man.

[3:24]  ⁴¹ tn Or “placed in front.” Directions in ancient Israel were given in relation to the east rather than the north.

[3:24]  ⁴² tn The Hebrew word is traditionally transliterated “the cherubim.”

[3:24]  ⁴³ tn Heb “the flame of the sword that turns round and round.” The noun “flame” is qualified by the genitive of specification, “the sword,” which in turn is modified by the attributive participle “whirling.” The Hitpael of the verb “turn” has an iterative function here, indicating repeated action. The form is used in Job 37:12 of swirling clouds and in Judg 7:13 of a tumbling roll of bread. Verse 24 depicts the sword as moving from side to side to prevent anyone from passing or as whirling around, ready to cut to shreds anyone who tries to pass.

[4:14]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “will never be thirsty forever.” The possibility of a later thirst is emphatically denied.

[4:14]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “well.” “Fountain” is used as the translation for πηγή (phgh) here since the idea is that of an artesian well that flows freely, but the term “artesian well” is not common in contemporary English.

[4:14]  ⁴⁶ tn The verb ἁλλομένου (Jallomenou) is used of quick movement (like jumping) on the part of living beings. This is the only instance of its being applied to the action of water. However, in the LXX it is used to describe the “Spirit of God” as it falls on Samson and Saul. See Judg 14:6, 19; 15:14; 1 Kgdms 10:2, 10 LXX (= 1 Sam 10:6, 10 ET); and Isa 35:6 (note context).

[4:1]  ⁴⁷ tc Several early and important witnesses, along with the majority of later ones (Ì^66c,75 A B C L W^s Ψ 083 ˹³ 33 Ï sa), have κύριος (kurio", “Lord”) here instead of ᾿Ιησοῦς (Ihsou", “Jesus”). As significant as this external support is, the internal evidence seems to be on the side of ᾿Ιησοῦς. “Jesus” is mentioned two more times in the first two verses of chapter four in a way that is stylistically awkward (so much so that the translation has substituted the pronoun for the first one; see tn note below). This seems to be sufficient reason to motivate scribes to change the wording to κύριος. Further, the reading ᾿Ιησοῦς is not without decent support, though admittedly not as strong as that for κύριος (Ì^66* א D Θ 086 ˹ 565 1241 al lat bo). On the other hand, this Gospel speaks of Jesus as Lord in the evangelist’s narrative descriptions elsewhere only in 11:2; 20:18, 20; 21:12; and probably 6:23, preferring ᾿Ιησοῦς most of the time. This fact could be used to argue that scribes, acquainted with John’s style, changed κύριος to ᾿Ιησοῦς. But the immediate context generally is weighed more heavily than an author’s style. It is possible that neither word was in the original text and scribes supplied what they thought most appropriate (see TCGNT 176). But without ms evidence to this effect coupled with the harder reading ᾿Ιησοῦς, this conjecture must remain doubtful. All in all, it is best to regard ᾿Ιησοῦς as the original reading here.

[4:1]  ⁴⁸ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[4:1]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “Jesus”; the repetition of the proper name is somewhat redundant in English (see the beginning of the verse) and so the pronoun (“he”) has been substituted here.

[4:1]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “was making.”

[1:23]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “He”; the referent (John the Baptist) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:23]  ⁵² sn This call to “make straight” is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.

[1:23]  ⁵³ sn A quotation from Isa 40:3.

[1:2]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the Word) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:2]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the Word) has been specified in the translation for clarity.