Genesis 12-20

Modern English Version

The Call of Abram

12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country, your family, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

⁴ So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Harran. ⁵ Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had accumulated, and the people that they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. They came to the land of Canaan.

⁶ Then Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanites were in the land at that time. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

⁸ From there he continued on to a mountain to the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. ⁹ Then Abram continued his journey toward the Negev.

Abram in Egypt^(A)

¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live there, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹ When he was getting near to Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know you are a beautiful woman. ¹² Therefore, when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will then kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³ Say you are my sister so that I may be treated well for your sake. Then my life will be spared because of you.”

¹⁴ So when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful. ¹⁵ The princes of Pharaoh saw her and commended her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ He treated Abram well for her sake and he had sheep and livestock, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Abram’s wife, Sarai. ¹⁸ So Pharaoh called Abram, and said, “What have you done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now here is your wife; take her and leave.” ²⁰ Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

Abram and Lot

13 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him. ² Abram was very wealthy in livestock, in silver and in gold.

³ He continued on his journey from the Negev and came to Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ to the place where he first made an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.

⁵ Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶ But the land was not able to support them both dwelling together because their possessions were so great. ⁷ And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites dwelled in the land at that time.

⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife, I ask you, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives. ⁹ Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you will go to the left, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right, then I will go to the left.”

¹⁰ Lot lifted up his eyes, and looked at all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. ¹¹ Then Lot chose for himself the entire valley of the Jordan and journeyed east, and the two of them separated from each other. ¹² Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the valley and pitched his tent as far as Sodom. ¹³ Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against the Lord.

¹⁴ After Lot had departed from him, the Lord said to Abram, “Lift up now your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward. ¹⁵ All the land that you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever. ¹⁶ I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be numbered. ¹⁷ Arise, and walk throughout the land across its length and its width, for I will give it to you.”

¹⁸ So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar to the Lord there.

Abram Rescues Lot

14 In the days that Amraphel was king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goyim, ² they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³ All these were joined together in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Dead Sea). ⁴ For twelve years they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

⁵ In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, and the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim, ⁶ and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is by the wilderness. ⁷ Then they turned back and came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh) and conquered all the country of the Amalekites and also the Amorites who lived in Hazezon Tamar.

⁸ Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) came out, and they joined together in battle in the Valley of Siddim ⁹ against Kedorlaomer, the king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. ¹⁰ Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell in them, and the rest fled to the hill country. ¹¹ Then they took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and departed. ¹² They also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who lived in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way.

¹³ Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living near the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshkol and Aner, and these were allies with Abram. ¹⁴ When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants born in his own house, and pursued them as far as Dan. ¹⁵ During the night he divided his men to attack them and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. ¹⁶ He brought back all the possessions, along with his relative Lot and his possessions, and also the women and the people.

Melchizedek Blesses Abram

¹⁷ After his return from the defeat of Kedorlaomer and the kings who had joined with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

¹⁸ Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was the priest of God Most High. ¹⁹ And he blessed him and said,

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

²¹ The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the goods for yourself.”

²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, ²³ that I will take nothing that is yours, not a thread or a sandal strap; lest you say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ²⁴ I will accept only that which my men have eaten and the portion that belongs to the men who went with me, Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion.”

The Abrahamic Covenant

15 After this the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,

² But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Abram said, “Since You have not given me any children, my heir is a servant born in my house.”

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but a son that is from your own body will be your heir.” ⁵ He brought him outside and said, “Look up toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So will your descendants be.”

⁶ Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.

⁷ He also said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess^[d] it.”

⁸ But Abram said, “Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?”

⁹ So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰ Then Abram brought all of these to Him and cut them in two and laid each piece opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half. ¹¹ When the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹² As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and terror and a great darkness fell on him. ¹³ Then He said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will live as strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. ¹⁴ But I will judge the nation that they serve, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace and you will be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ In the fourth generation, your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

¹⁷ When the sun went down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot with a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸ On that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

The Birth of Ishmael

16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children, and she had a maidservant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Please go in to my maid; it may be that I will obtain children through her.”

Abram listened to Sarai. ³ So after Abram had been living for ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, his wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. ⁴ He went in to Hagar, and she conceived.

When she saw that she had conceived, she began to despise her mistress. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my maid into your arms; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. May the Lord judge between you and me.”

⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed, your maid is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her presence.

⁷ The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness. It was the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸ And he said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?”

And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

⁹ Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.” ¹⁰ The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly so that they will be too many to count.”

¹¹ Then the angel of the Lord said to her,

¹³ Then she called the name of the Lord that spoke to her, “You are the God who sees,” for she said, “Have I now looked on Him who sees me?” ¹⁴ Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the son she bore Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

The Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am Almighty God. Walk before Me and be blameless. ² And I will make My covenant between you and Me and will exceedingly multiply you.”

³ Abram fell on his face and God said to him, ⁴ “As for Me, My covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵ No longer will your name be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. ⁸ All the land of Canaan, where you now live as strangers, I will give to you and to your descendants for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

⁹ Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you; every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² Every male throughout every generation that is eight days old shall be circumcised, whether born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner who is not your descendant. ¹³ He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised. My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ Any uncircumcised male whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised shall be cut off from his people. He has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵ Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you will not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her and also give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man that is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸ Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”

¹⁹ Then God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call his name Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him. ²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.” ²² Then He stopped talking with Abraham, and God went up from him.

²³ Then Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day as God had said to him. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵ His son, Ishmael, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised on the same day. ²⁷ All the men born in Abraham’s household or bought from foreigners were circumcised with him.

Isaac’s Birth Foretold

18 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great oak trees of Mamre while he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. ² Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and saw three men standing across from him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself toward the ground.

³ He said, “My Lord, if I have found favor in Your sight, do not pass by Your servant. ⁴ Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. ⁵ I will bring a piece of bread so that you may refresh yourselves. After that you may pass on, now that you have come to your servant.”

And they said, “So do, as you have said.”

⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare three measures^[e] of fine flour, knead it, and make cakes.”

⁷ Then Abraham ran to the herd and took a choice and tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He then brought butter and milk and the calf that he had prepared and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

⁹ They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?”

And he said, “There, in the tent.”

¹⁰ One of them said, “I will certainly return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. ¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were old and very advanced in age, and Sarah was well past childbearing. ¹² Therefore Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am so old and my lord is old also, shall I have pleasure?”

¹³ Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I surely bear a child when I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ Then Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid.

But He said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

Sodom and Gomorrah

¹⁶ Then the men rose up and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to see them on their way. ¹⁷ Then the Lord said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am doing, ¹⁸ since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? ¹⁹ I chose him, and he will instruct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He promised him.”

²⁰ Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, ²¹ I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has come to Me. If not, I will know.”

²² The men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. ²³ Then Abraham drew near and said, “Shall You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous in the city? Shall You also destroy, and not spare the place, for the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be treated like the wicked; far be it from You. Should not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

²⁶ So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the entire place for their sakes.”

²⁷ Then Abraham answered and said, “I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord. ²⁸ Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous. Will You destroy all the city for lack of five?”

And He said, “If I find forty-five there, I will not destroy it.”

²⁹ And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there will be forty found there?”

So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.”

³⁰ Then he said to Him, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose there will be thirty found there?”

Again He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹ He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there?”

He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.”

³² Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak only once more. Suppose ten will be found there?”

Then He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.”

³³ So the Lord went His way as soon as He had stopped speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

19 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them he rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. ² Then he said, “Here, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet; and then you may rise early and go on your way.”

They said, “No, we will stay in the open square all night.”

³ But he strongly insisted, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴ Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. ⁵ They then called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may have relations with them.”

⁶ So Lot went out through the door to them and shut the door behind him. ⁷ Then he said, “Please, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. ⁸ Look, I have two daughters who have not been with a man. Please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”

⁹ But they replied, “Stand back!” Also, they said, “This man came here as an alien, and he keeps acting like a judge. We will deal worse with you than with them.” So they pressed hard against Lot, and came close to breaking down the door.

¹⁰ But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them and shut the door. ¹¹ Then they struck the men that were at the door of the house, both small and great, with blindness so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

¹² Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, take them out of this place! ¹³ For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has grown great before the presence of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.

¹⁵ When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Otherwise you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.”

¹⁶ And while he lingered, the men took hold of his and his wife’s hands, along with the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and brought him out and set him outside the city. ¹⁷ When they had brought them out, one of them said to them, “Escape for your lives! Do not look behind you or stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest you be destroyed.”

¹⁸ Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lords! ¹⁹ Your servant has found grace in your eyes, and you have shown your mercy, which you have shown to me by saving my life. However, I cannot escape to the mountain. Otherwise some evil will overtake me, and I will die. ²⁰ Look, this city is close enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Please, let me escape there (is it not a little one?), and my life will be saved.”

²¹ He said to him, “I have granted your request in this matter also. I will not overthrow this city of which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen over the land when Lot entered Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was from the Lord out of heaven. ²⁵ So He overthrew those cities, all the valley, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But his wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Now Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he stood before the Lord. ²⁸ Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹ So it was that when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the destruction, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰ Then Lot left Zoar, and lived in the mountains, along with his two daughters who were with him, for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. ³¹ And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth to have relations with us after the manner of all the earth. ³² Let us make our father drink wine and let us lie with him, so that we may preserve the lineage of our father.”

³³ So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and had relations with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁴ On the next day the firstborn said to the younger, “Indeed, last night I had relations with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also, so that you may go in and have relations with him, so that we may preserve the lineage of our father.” ³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night also. Then the younger arose and lay down with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁶ Therefore both the daughters of Lot were pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ The younger also gave birth to a son and called his name Ben-Ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

Abraham and Abimelek^(B)

20 Abraham journeyed from there toward the Negev, settled between Kadesh and Shur, and then he sojourned in Gerar. ² Then Abraham said about Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelek, king of Gerar, sent for her and took Sarah.

³ But God came to Abimelek in a dream by night and said to him, “You are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”

⁴ Abimelek had not gone near her, and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation? ⁵ Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and did not even she herself say, ‘He is my brother’? In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.”

⁶ And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also kept you from sinning against Me. Therefore, I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Therefore return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet and he will pray for you. Moreover, you will live. However, if you do not return her, know that you will surely die, you and all who are yours.”

⁸ So Abimelek rose early in the morning, and called all his servants and told them all these things, and the men were very afraid. ⁹ Then Abimelek called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I offended you that you would bring on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done things to me that should not have been done.” ¹⁰ Then Abimelek said to Abraham, “What were you thinking of, that you did this thing?”

¹¹ Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will slay me because of my wife. ¹² Still, indeed, she is my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. She became my wife. ¹³ When God caused me to travel from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is your kindness which you must show me: Every place where we go, say concerning me, He is my brother.’ ”

¹⁴ Then Abimelek took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵ Abimelek said, “My land is before you; settle wherever it pleases you.”

¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “I have given your brother a thousand shekels of silver.^[f] It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.”

¹⁷ So Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children. ¹⁸ For the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelek because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.