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

¹⁷ David said to God, “Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I, the shepherd,^[a] have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep.^(A) What have they done? Lord my God, let your hand fall on me and my family,^(B) but do not let this plague remain on your people.”

²³ Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?^{(A) 24} What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare^[a] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?^{(B) 25} Far be it from you to do such a thing^(C)—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous^(D) and the wicked alike.^(E) Far be it from you! Will not the Judge^(F) of all the earth do right?”^(G)

¹¹ How much more—when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed—should I not now demand his blood^(A) from your hand and rid the earth of you!”

¹⁷ Then Abraham prayed to God,^(A) and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again, ¹⁸ for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.^(B)

⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept^(A) you from sinning against me.^(B) That is why I did not let you touch her.

²⁴ Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur^(A) on Sodom and Gomorrah^(B)—from the Lord out of the heavens.^(C)