Genesis 20:3

Context

20:3 But God appeared¹ to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “You are as good as dead² because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife.”³

Genesis 20:8-10

Context

20:8 Early in the morning⁴ Abimelech summoned⁵ all his servants. When he told them about all these things,⁶ they⁷ 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?⁸ You have done things to me that should not be done!”⁹ 20:10 Then Abimelech asked¹⁰ Abraham, “What prompted you to do this thing?”¹¹

[20:3] ¹tn Heb “came.”

[20:3] ²tn 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] ³tn Heb “and she is owned by an owner.” The disjunctive clause is causal or explanatory in this case.

[20:8] ⁴tn Heb “And Abimelech rose early in the morning and he summoned.”

[20:8] ⁵tn The verb קָרָא (qara’) followed by the preposition לְ (lamed) means “to summon.”

[20:8] ⁶tn Heb “And he spoke all these things in their ears.”

[20:8] ⁷tn Heb “the men.” This has been replaced by the pronoun “they” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[20:9] ⁷tn 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] ⁸tn Heb “Deeds which should not be done you have done to me.” The imperfect has an obligatory nuance here.

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

[20:10] ¹¹tn Heb “What did you see that you did this thing?” The question implies that Abraham had some motive for deceiving Abimelech.