Genesis 20:1

At one time, Abraham moved his camp south to the Negev desert, and he lived between the 2 towns called Kadesh and Shur. Then later, he moved his camp to a town called Gerar.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.

In Context

2While Abraham and Sarah were in Gerar, Abraham told everyone that his wife Sarah was his sister, not his wife. The big boss of Gerar was called Abimelek. He believed Abraham, so he sent somebody to get Sarah so that he could marry her.

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Cross References

Genesis 13:1So Abram, Sarai, and Lot left Egypt and went back to the dry desert country. They took everything they owned, and all their workers.

Genesis 16:1Abram and Sarai lived in that Canaan country, and after they were there for 10 years, they still had no kids. Sarai had a woman from Egypt working for her, called Hagar. She was Sarai’s slave. That means Sarai owned Hagar, and Hagar had to do everything that Sarai told her to do. Sarai was sad because she had no kids, but she got an idea about how to get a baby for herself. So she said to Abram, “God has stopped me from having my own kids. But listen. I want you to sleep with Hagar, like she is your wife. You see, she belongs to me, so if she has a baby, that baby will really belong to me.” So Abram did that, just like Sarai said.

Genesis 16:14So that’s why people call that water-hole the water-hole that belongs to the one that is alive and sees me. That water-hole is between a place called Kadesh and a place called Bered.

Genesis 21:34Abraham and all his people lived for a long time in the country that belonged to the Philistia mob.

Genesis 26:1At another time, there was no rain and no food plants growing in the country where Isaac and Rebekah lived. It was like the time when there was no rain a long time before, while Abraham was still alive. So Isaac and his family left that country, and they went to the town called Gerar, in Philistia country. The big boss of the Philistia people was called Abimelek, and he lived in that town.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 20:1

We are here returning to the story of Abraham; yet that part of it which is here recorded is not to his honour. The fairest marbles have their flaws, and, while there are spots in the sun, we must not expect any thing spotless under it. The scripture, it should be remarked, is impartial in relating the blemishes even of its most celebrated characters. We have here, I. Abraham's sin in denying his wife, and Abimelech's sin thereupon in taking her, ver. 1, 2 . II. God's discourse with Abimelech in a dream, upon this… Read the whole commentary →

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