Genesis 20:2,3

When Abraham went to Egypt, he said that Sarah was his sister. (See Genesis 12:11-13 and the comment. At that time, Abraham was called ‘Abram’ and his wife Sarah was called ‘Sarai’.) When Abraham went to Gerar, he said the same thing. On both occasions, it was a foolish and wrong thing. Abraham was not confident that God would protect him. But God did protect Abraham. And later, Abraham learned to trust God completely.

‘Abimelech’ means ‘my father is king’. Every *Philistine king was called ‘Abimelech’. It was not one king’s name.

v8 So Abimelech got up early in the morning. He called all his servants and he told them all these things. The servants were very much afraid. v9 Then Abimelech called Abraham. He said to him, ‘You have done a wrong thing to us. You have made me and my nation guilty. We did not deserve that. You have done to me things that nobody ought to do.’ v10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, ‘What were your reasons? Why did you do this thing?’

v11 Abraham replied, ‘I said to myself, “The people in this place do not respect God. They will kill me because of my wife.” v12 And she is truly my sister. She is my father’s daughter but she is not my mother’s daughter. And she became my wife. v13 When God made me leave my father’s house, I spoke to her. I said, “Please do this thing for me. Say about me: He is my brother. Say this at every place that we come to.” ’

v14 Then Abimelech took sheep and cows. He took male and female slaves. He gave them to Abraham. Also, he gave back to Abraham Sarah, who was his wife. v15 And Abimelech said, ‘Look! My land is in front of you. Live wherever you choose.’ v16 Abimelech said to Sarah, ‘I have given 1000 coins of silver to your brother. This gift shows that you are innocent. It shows this to all the people who are with you. It shows it to everybody.’

v17–18 The *Lord had made all the women who were in Abimelech’s house unable to produce children. He did this because of Sarah, who was Abraham’s wife. So Abraham prayed to God and God cured Abimelech. He also cured Abimelech’s wife and his female slaves, so that they could produce children.