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 5:10-11

5:10 Enosh lived 815 years after he became the father of Kenan, and he had other sons and daughters. 5:11 The entire lifetime of Enosh was 905 years, and then he died.

Genesis 23:1

The Death of Sarah

23:1 Sarah lived 127 years. ⁴⁰ 

Luke 15:13-16

15:13 After ⁴¹  a few days, ⁴²  the younger son gathered together all he had and left on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered ⁴³  his wealth ⁴⁴  with a wild lifestyle. 15:14 Then ⁴⁵  after he had spent everything, a severe famine took place in that country, and he began to be in need. 15:15 So he went and worked for ⁴⁶  one of the citizens of that country, who ⁴⁷  sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ⁴⁸  15:16 He ⁴⁹  was longing to eat ⁵⁰  the carob pods ⁵¹  the pigs were eating, but ⁵²  no one gave him anything.

Luke 16:24-25

16:24 So ⁵³  he called out, ⁵⁴  ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus ⁵⁵  to dip the tip of his finger ⁵⁶  in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish ⁵⁷  in this fire.’ ⁵⁸  16:25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, ⁵⁹  remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus likewise bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. ⁶⁰ 

Luke 16:1

The Parable of the Clever Steward

16:1 Jesus ⁶¹  also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who was informed of accusations ⁶²  that his manager ⁶³  was wasting ⁶⁴  his assets.

Luke 5:6

5:6 When ⁶⁵  they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets started to tear. ⁶⁶ 

Luke 5:2

5:2 He ⁶⁷  saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.

Luke 3:4

3:4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice ⁶⁸  of one shouting in the wilderness: ⁶⁹ 

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make ⁷⁰  his paths straight.

[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.

[23:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “And the years of Sarah were one hundred years and twenty years and seven years, the years of the life of Sarah.”

[15:13]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “And after.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[15:13]  ⁴² tn Grk “after not many days.”

[15:13]  ⁴³ tn Or “wasted.” This verb is graphic; it means to scatter (L&N 57.151).

[15:13]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “estate” (the same word has been translated “estate” in v. 12).

[15:14]  ⁴⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the sequence of events in the parable. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.

[15:15]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “joined himself to” (in this case an idiom for beginning to work for someone).

[15:15]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “and he.” Here the conjunction καί (kai) and the personal pronoun have been translated by a relative pronoun to improve the English style.

[15:15]  ⁴⁸ sn To a Jew, being sent to the field to feed pigs would be an insult, since pigs were considered unclean animals (Lev 11:7).

[15:16]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[15:16]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “would gladly have eaten”; Grk “was longing to be filled with.”

[15:16]  ⁵¹ tn This term refers to the edible pods from a carob tree (BDAG 540 s.v. κεράτιον). They were bean-like in nature and were commonly used for fattening pigs, although they were also used for food by poor people (L&N 3.46).

[15:16]  ⁵² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[16:24]  ⁵³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous actions in the narrative.

[16:24]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “calling out he said”; this is redundant in contemporary English style and has been simplified to “he called out.”

[16:24]  ⁵⁵ sn The rich man had not helped Lazarus before, when he lay outside his gate (v. 2), but he knew him well enough to know his name. This is why the use of the name Lazarus in the parable is significant. (The rich man’s name, on the other hand, is not mentioned, because it is not significant for the point of the story.)

[16:24]  ⁵⁶ sn The dipping of the tip of his finger in water is evocative of thirst. The thirsty are in need of God’s presence (Ps 42:1-2; Isa 5:13). The imagery suggests the rich man is now separated from the presence of God.

[16:24]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “in terrible pain” (L&N 24.92).

[16:24]  ⁵⁸ sn Fire in this context is OT imagery; see Isa 66:24.

[16:25]  ⁵⁹ tn The Greek term here is τέκνον (teknon), which could be understood as a term of endearment.

[16:25]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “in terrible pain” (L&N 24.92). Here is the reversal Jesus mentioned in Luke 6:20-26.

[16:1]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:1]  ⁶² tn These are not formal legal charges, but reports from friends, acquaintances, etc.; Grk “A certain man was rich who had a manager, and this one was reported to him as wasting his property.”

[16:1]  ⁶³ sn His manager was the steward in charge of managing the house. He could have been a slave trained for the role.

[16:1]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “squandering.” This verb is graphic; it means to scatter (L&N 57.151).

[5:6]  ⁶⁵ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[5:6]  ⁶⁶ tn In context, this imperfect verb is best taken as an ingressive imperfect (BDF §338.1).

[5:2]  ⁶⁷ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[3:4]  ⁶⁸ tn Or “A voice.”

[3:4]  ⁶⁹ tn Or “desert.” The syntactic position of the phrase “in the wilderness” is unclear in both Luke and the LXX. The MT favors taking it with “Prepare a way,” while the LXX takes it with “a voice shouting.” If the former, the meaning would be that such preparation should be done “in the wilderness.” If the latter, the meaning would be that the place from where John’s ministry went forth was “in the wilderness.” There are Jewish materials that support both renderings: 1QS 8:14 and 9.19-20 support the MT while certain rabbinic texts favor the LXX (see D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:290-91). While it is not absolutely necessary that a call in the wilderness led to a response in the wilderness, it is not unlikely that such would be the case. Thus, in the final analysis, the net effect between the two choices may be minimal. In any case, a majority of commentators and translations take “in the wilderness” with “The voice of one shouting” (D. L. Bock; R. H. Stein, Luke [NAC], 129; I. H. Marshall, Luke [NIGTC], 136; NIV, NRSV, NKJV, NLT, NASB, REB).

[3:4]  ⁷⁰ tn This call to “make paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance as the verb ποιέω (poiew) reappears in vv. 8, 10, 11, 12, 14.