But that night God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are a dead man, for that woman you have taken is already married!”
Parallel translations
- WEB But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a man’s wife.”
- KJV But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.
- BSB One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”
- NKJV But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”
- NASB But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God warns Abimelech in a dream that he is a dead man for taking another man's wife. The Lord acts directly to protect Sarah and the promise.
Overview
God sovereignly intervenes, speaking even to a pagan king to guard Sarah's purity and the integrity of the promised seed. The warning shows that God holds all people accountable to His moral law, not Israel alone. His protective grace toward the covenant line, despite Abraham's failure, demonstrates that salvation history rests on God's faithfulness rather than human merit.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Gen 20:7Now therefore, restore the man’s wife. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you don’t restore her, know for sure that you will die, you, and all who are yours.”
- Matt 27:19While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him.”
- Ps 105:14He allowed no one to do them wrong. Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes,
- Job 33:15In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, in slumbering on the bed;
- Gen 28:12He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
- Matt 1:20But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
- Gen 40:8They said to him, “We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.” Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me.”
- Gen 31:24God came to Laban, the Syrian, in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.”
- Job 4:12–13“Now a thing was secretly brought to me. My ear received a whisper of it.
- Jonah 3:4Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried out, and said, “In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!”
- Matt 2:12–13Being warned in a dream that they shouldn’t return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.
- Gen 37:5Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more.
- Gen 37:9He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.”
- Ezek 33:14–15Again, when I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;
- Gen 41:1–36At the end of two full years, Pharaoh dreamed: and behold, he stood by the river.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 20:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.