Now Abimelech had not come near her. He said, “Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation?
Parallel Translations
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Now Abimelech had not come near her. He said, “Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation?
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But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
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Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said: 'Lord, wilt Thou slay even a righteous nation?
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Genesis 20:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 18:23-25 Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it? May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”
- 2 Samuel 4:11 How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house on his bed, should I not now require his blood from your hand, and rid the earth of you?”
- 1 Chronicles 21:17 David said to God, “Isn’t it I who commanded the people to be counted? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Yahweh my God, be against me, and against my father’s house; but not against your people, that they should be plagued.”
- Genesis 19:24 Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.
- Genesis 20:6 God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didn’t allow you to touch her.
- Genesis 20:17-18 Abraham prayed to God. God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his female servants, and they bore children. For Yahweh had closed up tight all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 4. But Abimelech had not come near her. Though…
4. But Abimelech had not come near her. Though Abraham had deprived himself of his wife, the Lord interposed in time to preserve her uninjured. When Moses previously relates, that she was taken away by Pharaoh, he does not say whether her chastity was assailed or not; but since the Lord then also declared himself the vindicator of her whom he now saved from dishonor, we ought not to doubt that her integrity was preserved both times. For why did he now forbid the king of Gerar to touch her, if he had previously suffered her to be corrupted in Egypt? We see, however, that when the Lord so defers his aid as not to stretch out his hand to the faithful, till they are in extreme peril, he shows the more clearly how admirable is his Providence.
Wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? The explanation given by some, that Abimelech here compares himself with the men of Sodom, is perhaps too refined. The following meaning appears to me more simple; namely ‘O Lord, although thou dost severely punish adultery, shall thy wrath pour itself out on unoffending men, who have rather fallen into error, than sinned knowingly and willingly?’ Moreover, Abimelech seems so to clear himself, as if he were entirely free from blame: and yet the Lord both admits and approves his excuse. We must, however, mark in what way, and to what extent he boasts that his heart and hands are guiltless. For he does not arrogate to himself a purity which is altogether spotless; but only denies that he was led by lust, either tyrannically or purposely, to abuse another man’s wife. We know how great is the difference between a crime and a fault ; thus Abimelech does not exempt himself from every kind of charge, but only shows that he had been conscious of no such wickedness as required this severe punishment. The ‘simplicity of heart,’ of which he speaks, is nothing else than that ignorance which stands opposed to consciousness of guilt; and ‘the righteousness of his hands,’ is nothing but that selfgovernment, by which men abstain from force and acts of injustice. Besides, the interrogation which Abimelech used proceeded from a common feeling of religion. For nature itself dictates, that God preserves a just discrimination in inflicting punishments.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The infidels confessed that God would not punish but…
The infidels confessed that God would not punish but for just occasion: therefore, whensoever he punisheth, the occasion is just.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 20:4 But Abimelech had not come near her:…
Gen 20:4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
Ver. 4. But Abimelech had not come near her.] Being hindered by sickness. {Gen 20:17} Well might St Ambrose call sickness the shop of virtues. {a} When men are fastened to their beds, and their bones made to rattle in their skin, lust will be laid asleep, and little leisure left for luxury. {b} This made King Alfred pray God to send him always some sickness, whereby his body might be tamed, and he the better disposed and affectioned to Godward. If it be painful to the vine to bleed, it is worse to wither. Better be pruned to grow, than cut up to burn. Otho tertius, Imperator, dictus miraculum mundi, amoribus periit .{ c} How much happier he that sang, Periissem nisi Periissem .
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Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?] For he knew that whole nations had smarted for the sins of their rulers; this sin of adultery especially, as we read of Shechem, Troy, &c. How were the Greeks plagued for the rape of Chrysis! and the Lacedemonian commonwealth utterly overturned by Epaminondas in the battle of Leuctra, for a rape committed upon the two daughters of Scedasus by a couple of Spartan gentlemen, travelling to Delphi! This might make Abimelech afraid lest, for his fault, wrath should fall upon his people also.
{a} Morbos virtutum officians vocat Ambros .
{b} Nuper me amici cuiusdam languor admonuit opimos esse nos dum infirmi sumus . - Plin., epist. xxvi. lib. vii.
{c} Manl., loc. com., p. 667.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Abimelech had not come near her, i.e. had not…
Abimelech had not come near her, i.e. had not yet lain with her. A modest expression, like that of knowing a woman, Gen 4:1, or going in to her, Gen 6:4, or touching her, Pro 6:29; 1Co 7:1, by which we are taught to use modesty in our speeches, and not, with the rude cynics, to express all things by their proper names. This clause and history was necessary to be added here for Sarah’s vindication, and especially for the demonstration of Isaac’s original from Abraham and Sarah, according to God’s promise.
Wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? i.e. innocent as to this matter. Compare 2Sa 4:11. He knew it was just and usual for God to punish a nation for their king’s sins; and therefore, as became a good prince, he is solicitous, and prays for the safety of his nation: or else by nation he may mean his family, for some of them were not involved in the guilt of this fact.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain But Abimelech had not come near her,.... Sarah had…
But Abimelech had not come near her,.... Sarah had been put into an apartment in his palace, and not yet admitted into his company, not at least to his bed; he had not lain with her, which is the design of the expression: the Septuagint version is, "had not touched her", as in Gen 20:6; which is another phrase expressive of the same thing:
and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? meaning either his family, the greater part of which were not accessory to this affair; or rather his kingdom, as Aben Ezra, see Gen 20:9; which though not a nation of righteous men, in a strict sense, see Gen 20:11; yet with regard to this business of Sarah were no ways criminal: either God had threatened to destroy his people, as well as himself, if he did not return Sarah to her husband, or committed iniquity with her; or he knew that this had been usual for people to suffer for the crimes of their governors, and like a true father of his country shows an affectionate concern for their welfare in the first place; for this may be the sense of the word "also", on which an emphasis is put; wilt thou not only slay me, but also a whole nation for my sake, a nation free from all fault and blame in this matter? though some think he has reference to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, a recent action, and fresh in his mind; as if he should say, thou hast justly destroyed a wicked people for their sins, and wilt thou also destroy a nation that at least, in comparison of them, is a just and righteous one?
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Wilt thou slay also a righteous nation - Not…
Wilt thou slay also a righteous nation - Not such a nation as Sodom.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Gen 20:4. Wilt thou also slay a righteous nation?…
Gen 20:4. Wilt thou also slay a righteous nation? — He probably referred to the late destruction of Sodom and the cities of the plain, which, no doubt, must have caused great consternation, if not also some degree of reformation, in that neighbourhood. As Abimelech’s plea was not rejected by the Lord, there is reason to hope that both he and his subjects were not only free from the abominations of Sodom, and from the reigning idolatries of Canaan, but that the fear of God, and some remains of true religion, were found among them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 4. Had not come near her — He and…
4. Had not come near her — He and his house had apparently been smitten with some judgment (Gen_20:6; Gen_20:18) which restrained him from Sarah, and hindered his wife and maidservants from conception. From which it would seem that Sarah was removed some time from Abraham.
Also a righteous nation — There seems to be in these words an allusion to the destruction of the Sodomites. The fame of that fearful judgment had probably spread through all the adjacent lands, and made a profound impression; and now, when God speaks in a dream to this king, Abimelech asks, in amazement, if his people are in danger of a judgment like those wicked sinners. In his emotion his language rises almost to a poetic strain:
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O Lord, a nation also righteous wilt thou slay?
Did not he say to me,
My sister is she?
And she, she also, said,
My brother is he.
In the integrity of my heart,
And in the innocency of my hands,
Have I done this.
In this king we may recognise an exceptional example of heathen uprightness. His ideas of righteousness, integrity, and innocence do not forbid polygamy, so that he has no compunction in adding Sarah to his harem. But he pleads sincerity and personal honour. Though lamentably low, he is far above the moral level of the Sodomites; and yet he needs the prayers and help of Abraham, who himself is far from the highest idea of innocence. Behold here the necessity of divine revelation. Without the word of the Lord, how could simple man come to know righteousness, or integrity, or purity?
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. a righteous nation] Abimelech appeals to the instinct…
4. a righteous nation] Abimelech appeals to the instinct of justice, that God will not punish the innocent, as if they were guilty. Cf. Gen_18:23.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (4) A righteous nation.—Knobel has pointed out that there…
(4) A righteous nation.—Knobel has pointed out that there is an allusion here to the fate of Sodom. Though the malady was confined to Abimelech and his household, yet he sees destruction threatening his whole people, who, compared with the inhabitants of the Ciccar cities, were righteous. There is indirect proof: of the truth of Abimelech’s assertion in the fact that death (see Gen_20:3) is acquiesced in as the fitting punishment for adultery.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain But Abimelech had not come near her. Apparently withheld…
But Abimelech had not come near her. Apparently withheld by the peculiar disease which had overtaken him. The statement of the present verse (a similar one to which is not made with reference to Pharaoh) was clearly rendered necessary by the approaching birth of Isaac, who might otherwise have been said to be the child not of Abraham, but of the Philistine king. And he said, Lord, Adonai (vide Gen_15:2) wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Anticipating that the stroke of Divine judgment was about to fall upon his people as well as on himself, with allusion to the fate of Sodom (Knobel), which he deprecates for his people at least on the ground that they are innocent of the offence charged against him (cf. 2Sa_24:17) That Abimelech and his people, like Melchisedeck and his subjects, had some knowledge of the true God, and that the Canaanites generally at this period had not reached the depth of moral degradation into which the cities of the Jordan circle had sunk before their overthrow, is apparent from the narrative. The comparative virtue, therefore, of these tribes was a proof that the hour had not arrived for the infliction on them of the doom of extermination.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Now ... her
Now ... her
This word is used here to mark a change from the story to information about Abimelech. (See: Background Information)
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Abimelech had not come near her
This is a polite way of saying he did not have sex with her. AT: "Abimelech had not slept with Sarah" or "Abimelech had not touched Sarah" (See: Euphemism)
even a righteous nation
Here "nation" stands for the people. Abimelech is worried that God will punish not only him, but his people also. AT: "even a people who are innocent" (See: Metonymy)
Did he not himself say to me, 'She is my sister?' Even she herself said, 'He is my brother.'
This has quotations within a quotation. They can be stated as indirect quotations. AT: "Did he himself not tell me that she is his sister? Even she herself told me that he is her brother." (See: Quotes Within Quotes and Direct and Indirect Quotations)
Did he not himself say to me, 'She is my sister?'
Abimelech used this rhetorical question to remind God of something God already knew. This can be translated as a statement. AT: "Abraham himself told me, 'She is my sister.'" or "Abraham said that she is his sister." (See: Rhetorical Question)
Did he not himself say ... Even she herself
The words "he himself" and "she herself" are used for emphasis to bring attention to Abraham and Sarah and to blame them for what happened. (See: Reflexive Pronouns)
I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands
Here "heart" stands for his thoughts or intentions. Also "hands" stands for his actions. AT: "I have done this with good intentions and actions" or "I have done this with no evil thoughts or actions" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
Abimelech
lord
righteous
nation
heart
innocent
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 20:4-5 Abimelech was innocent (20:6); his conscience was clear.…
20:4-5 Abimelech was innocent (20:6); his conscience was clear. Nonetheless, he was about to commit adultery, and ignorance does not excuse guilt (Lev 4:13-14). • will you destroy an innocent nation? Abimelech’s appeal to God echoes Abraham’s earlier words (cp. 18:23-32) and rebukes Abraham’s lack of faith on this occasion.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.