Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.

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.”

Now Abimelech had not approached her, so he said, “Lord, would You destroy a nation even though it is innocent?

Early in the morning Abimelech got up, called all his servants together, and personally told them all these things, and the men were terrified.

Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said to him, “What have you done to us? How did I sin against you that you have brought such enormous guilt on me and on my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.”

Abimelech also said to Abraham, “What did you intend when you did this thing?”

Then Abimelech took sheep and cattle and male and female slaves, gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him.

Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you. Settle wherever you want.”

Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could bear children,

for the Lord had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household on account of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.

But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the water well that Abimelech’s servants had seized.

Abimelech replied, “I don’t know who did this thing. You didn’t report anything to me, so I hadn’t heard about it until today.”

Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.

And Abimelech said to Abraham, “Why have you separated these seven ewe lambs?”

After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.

There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.

When Isaac had been there for some time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”

Then Abimelech said, “What is this you’ve done to us? One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.”

So Abimelech warned all the people with these words: “Whoever harms this man or his wife will certainly die.”

And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us, for you are much too powerful for us.”

Now Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.

His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to his mother’s brothers at Shechem and spoke to them and to all his maternal grandfather’s clan, saying,

His mother’s relatives spoke all these words about him in the presence of all the lords of Shechem, and they were favorable to Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.”

So they gave him 70 pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith. Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men with this money, and they followed him.

Then all the lords of Shechem and of Beth-millo gathered together and proceeded to make Abimelech king at the oak of the pillar in Shechem.

“Now if you have acted faithfully and honestly in making Abimelech king, if you have done well by Jerubbaal and his family, and if you have rewarded him appropriately for what he did—

and now you have attacked my father’s house today, killed his 70 sons on top of a large stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his slave, king over the lords of Shechem ‘because he is your brother’—

if then you have acted faithfully and honestly with Jerubbaal and his house this day, rejoice in Abimelech and may he also rejoice in you.

But if not, may fire come from Abimelech and consume the lords of Shechem and Beth-millo, and may fire come from the lords of Shechem and Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.”

Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer, and lived there because of his brother Abimelech.

When Abimelech had ruled over Israel three years,

God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem. They treated Abimelech deceitfully,

so that the crime against the 70 sons of Jerubbaal might come to justice and their blood would be avenged on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the lords of Shechem, who had helped him kill his brothers.

The lords of Shechem rebelled against him by putting people on the tops of the mountains to ambush and rob everyone who passed by them on the road. So this was reported to Abimelech.

So they went out to the countryside and harvested grapes from their vineyards. They trampled the grapes and held a celebration. Then they went to the house of their god, and as they ate and drank, they cursed Abimelech.

Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem that we should serve him? Isn’t he the son of Jerubbaal, and isn’t Zebul his officer? You are to serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelech?

If only these people were in my power, I would remove Abimelech.” So he said to Abimelech, “Gather your army and come out.”

So he sent messengers secretly to Abimelech, saying, “Look, Gaal son of Ebed, with his brothers, have come to Shechem and are turning the city against you.

So Abimelech and all the people with him got up at night and waited in ambush for Shechem in four units.

Gaal son of Ebed went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate. Then Abimelech and the people who were with him got up from their ambush.

Zebul replied, “Where is your mouthing off now? You said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Aren’t these the people you despised? Now go and fight them!”

So Gaal went out leading the lords of Shechem and fought against Abimelech,

but Abimelech pursued him, and Gaal fled before him. Many wounded died as far as the entrance of the gate.

Abimelech stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers from Shechem.

The next day when the people went into the countryside, this was reported to Abimelech.

Then Abimelech and the units that were with him rushed forward and took their stand at the entrance of the city gate. The other two units rushed against all who were in the countryside and struck them down.

So Abimelech fought against the city that entire day, captured it, and killed the people who were in it. Then he tore down the city and sowed it with salt.

Then it was reported to Abimelech that all the lords of the Tower of Shechem had gathered together.

So Abimelech and all the people who were with him went up to Mount Zalmon. Abimelech took his ax in his hand and cut a branch from the trees. He picked up the branch, put it on his shoulder, and said to the people who were with him, “Hurry and do what you have seen me do.”

Each person also cut his own branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches against the inner chamber and set it on fire around the people, and all the people in the Tower of Shechem died—about 1,000 men and women.

Abimelech went to Thebez, camped against it, and captured it.

When Abimelech came to attack the tower, he approached its entrance to set it on fire.

But a woman threw the upper portion of a millstone on Abimelech’s head and fractured his skull.

When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went home.

In this way, God turned back on Abimelech the evil that he had done against his father, by killing his 70 brothers.

After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah, son of Dodo became judge and began to deliver Israel. He was from Issachar and lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.

At Thebez, who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the top of the wall so that he died? Why did you get so close to the wall?’—then say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’”