Genesis 20:3

3 But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.”

Read Chapter Compare

PREVIOUS Genesis 20:2 NEXT Genesis 20:4

Genesis 20:3 in Other Translations

KJV

3 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.

ESV

3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by 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."

NLT

3 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!”

MSG

3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream that night and told him, "You're as good as dead - that woman you took, she's a married woman."

CSB

3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, "You are about to die because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman."

Genesis 20:3 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 20:3

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night
Put a dream into his mind, by which he cautioned him against taking Sarah to be his wife; so careful was the Lord that no wrong should be done to such a godly and virtuous person, to which she was exposed through the weakness of her husband. Aben Ezra wrongly interprets this of an angel, when it was God himself: and said unto him, behold, thou [art but] a dead man, for the woman
which thou hast taken;
that is, God would punish him with death, unless he restored the woman, whom he had taken, to her husband; not for any uncleanness he had committed with her, but for taking her without her free and full consent, and without inquiring more strictly into her relation to Abraham, and connection with him, and for his impure and unlawful desires after her, if persisted in: for she [is] a man's wife,
or "married to an husband" ^F3; and therefore it was unlawful in him to take her to be his wife.

FOOTNOTES:

F3 (leb tleb) "maritata marito", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Schmidt.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Genesis 20:3 In-Context

1 Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar,

2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.

3 But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.”

4 Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation?

5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.”

Cross References 4

1. Numbers 22:9,20
2. Genesis 28:12; Genesis 31:10,24; Genesis 37:5,9; Genesis 40:5; Genesis 41:1; Numbers 12:6; Deuteronomy 13:1; Job 33:15; Daniel 2:1; Daniel 4:5; Matthew 27:19
3. Exodus 10:7; Exodus 12:33; Psalms 105:38
4. ver 7; Genesis 26:11; 1 Chronicles 16:21; Psalms 105:14