- 1And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.
- 2And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
- 3But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.
- 4But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
- 5Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.
- 6And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
- 7Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
- 8Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.
- 9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.
- 10And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?
- 11And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake.
- 12And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
- 13And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.
- 14And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
- 15And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.
- 16And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.
- 17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.
- 18For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.
KING JAMES VERSION
GENESIS 20
Read the chapter, follow a linked verse, and continue into related Watchman 33 teaching.
CHAPTER VISUAL
Genesis 20 — Warned in a dream, Abimelech returns Sarah and makes public restitution while Abraham prays for his household.
About this illustration
The public restoration is the primary scene; the warning dream is suggested only through the troubled royal household in shadow. Sarah remains dignified and the chapter’s sexual danger is not sensationalized.
Scripture basis: Genesis 20:1–18King James Version · Standardized 1769 text with Strong’s numbering · Public domain outside the United Kingdom
EXPLORE THE MESSAGE
Related Watchman 33 Resources
Archaeological Evidence
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Late second or early third century AD
P.Oxy. IV 656: An Early Greek Genesis Codex
Four papyrus leaves from a late-second- or early-third-century Genesis codex preserve Abraham, Lot, Isaac, and Jacob passages together with revealing gaps and later additions at divine-name locations.
Genesis 14:21–23 · Genesis 15:5–9 · Genesis 19:32–38
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEArchaeological site
Middle Bronze Age IIA-B, principally nineteenth-eighteenth centuries BC
Ashkelon’s Middle Bronze Arched Gate and Ramparts
Ashkelon’s monumental mudbrick gateway and earthen ramparts reveal the engineering, traffic control, and civic authority of a major Canaanite port centuries before the city became a Philistine center.
Genesis 20:1–18 · Joshua 13:3 · Judges 1:18
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