Bible Strands
Genesis 20:2
Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Abraham speaks to the court of Gerar while dwelling between Kadesh and Shur after leaving Egypt. His statement prompts King Abimelech to order Sarah brought into his household.
The words — Abraham declares אֲחֹתִי ('achoti), literally "my sister," regarding his wife שָׂרָה (Sarah). Abimelech responds with וַ/יִּשְׁלַ֗ח (va/i.yish.Lach), meaning "and he sent," to retrieve her.
The thread — This exact claim appears when Abraham prepares to enter Egypt in Genesis 12:11 and when Pharaoh's officials see Sarai in Genesis 12:15. The same deception resurfaces when Isaac faces the men of Gerar in Genesis 26:7.
Why it lands — The text records Abraham's fear-driven misrepresentation and its immediate political result without editorial judgment. It asks the reader to track how human evasion repeatedly sets the stage for divine interruption before the covenant line is protected.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
Cross-references
- Genesis 12:15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw Sarai, they commended her to him, and she was taken into the palace of Pharaoh.
- Genesis 26:7 But when the men of that place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” since he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is so beautiful.”
- Genesis 12:11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman,
- Genesis 20:12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father—though not the daughter of my mother—and she became my wife.
- Genesis 26:1 Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.
- Genesis 26:16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Depart from us, for you are much too powerful for us.”
- 2 Chronicles 19:2 Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to confront him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is upon you.
- 2 Chronicles 32:31 And so when ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone to test him, that He might know all that was in Hezekiah’s heart.
- Proverbs 24:16 For though a righteous man may fall seven times, he still gets up; but the wicked stumble in bad times.
- Ecclesiastes 7:20 Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.