1. Abraham moved to the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was living in Gerar,
2. Abraham told everyone that his wife Sarah was his sister. So King Abimelech of Gerar sent men to take Sarah.
3. God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, “You’re going to die because of the woman that you’ve taken! She’s a married woman!”
4. Abimelech hadn’t come near her, so he asked, “Lord, will you destroy a nation even if it’s innocent?
5. Didn’t he tell me himself, ‘She’s my sister,’ and didn’t she even say, ‘He’s my brother’? I did this in all innocence and with a clear conscience.”
6. “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience,” God said to him in the dream. “In fact, I kept you from sinning against me. That’s why I didn’t let you touch her.
7. Give the man’s wife back to him now, because he’s a prophet. He will pray for you, and you will live. But if you don’t give her back, you and all who belong to you are doomed to die.”
8. Early in the morning Abimelech called together all his officials. He told them about all of this, and they were terrified.