Genesis 20:17
And when Abraham prayed, God healed Abimelech and his wife, and his handmaids, and they bore children:
Open Genesis 20:17 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Orante autem Abraham, sanavit Deus Abimelech et uxorem, ancillasque ejus, et pepererunt :
- Septuagint (Swete)
- προσηύξατο δὲ Ἀβραὰμ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ ἰάσατο ὁ θεὸς τὸν Ἀβιμέλεχ καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς παιδίσκας αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔτεκον·
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיִּתְפַּלֵּ֥ל אַבְרָהָ֖ם אֶל הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים וַיִּרְפָּ֨א אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶת אֲבִימֶ֧לֶךְ וְאֶת אִשְׁתּ֛וֹ וְאַמְהֹתָ֖יו וַיֵּלֵֽדוּ
Haydock's commentary
Healed. It is not known how God afflicted Abimelech; but the women could not be delivered during the short time that Sara was detained: on her being set at liberty, they bore children. (Menochius)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine On Marriage and Concupiscence, The Pelagians Argue that God Sometimes Closes the Womb in Anger, and Opens It When Appeased
Carefully consider the rest of his remarks: “This likewise,” says he, “is confirmed by the apostle’s authority. For when the blessed Paul spoke of the resurrection of the dead, he said, “Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened.” And afterwards, ‘But God giveth it a body as it pleaseth Him, and to every seed its own body.’ If, therefore, God,” says he, “has assigned to human seed, as to every thing else, its own proper body, which no wise or pious man will deny, how will you prove that any person is born guilty? Do, I beg of you, reflect with what a noose this assertion of natural sin is choked. But come,” he says, “deal more gently with yourself, I pray you. Believe me, God made even you: it must, however, be confessed, that a serious error has infected you. …