Genesis Chapter 20 verse 4 Holy Bible
Now Abimelech had not come near her. And he said, Lord, wilt thou slay even a righteous nation?
read chapter 20 in ASV
Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, Lord, will you put to death an upright nation?
read chapter 20 in BBE
But Abimelech had not come near her. And he said, Lord, wilt thou also kill a righteous nation?
read chapter 20 in DARBY
But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, LORD, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
read chapter 20 in KJV
But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou also slay a righteous nation?
read chapter 20 in WBT
Now Abimelech had not come near her. He said, "Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation?
read chapter 20 in WEB
And Abimelech hath not drawn near unto her, and he saith, `Lord, also a righteous nation dost thou slay?
read chapter 20 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - 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 Genesis 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. 2 Samuel 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.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(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 Genesis 20:3) is acquiesced in as the fitting punishment for adultery.
