Genesis 21:22

Plain English Version

One day, Abimelek went to talk to Abraham. Abimelek was the big boss of the country where Abraham lived. And Ficol, the leader of Abimelek’s army, went with him. Abimelek said to Abraham, “You know, you are not one of my people. You came from another place to live here in my country. But I have been good to you, and to all your people. So I want you to promise me that you will never try to trick me, or my kids, or anyone that is born into my family. I want you to promise that you will be good to them. We know that God is very good to you, and he helps you with everything you do. So I want you to make that promise to me while God is listening. I want you to tell God to punish you if you break that promise.”

Cross References

Genesis 20:14

Then Abimelek did what God told him to do. He gave Sarah back to Abraham, and he also gave him some sheep, and some goats, and some cows, and some bulls, and some workers, both men and women.

Genesis 20:17

Then Abraham prayed to God and asked him to make Abimelek and his mob better. You see, before, at the time when Abimelek got Sarah so that he could marry her, God made Abimelek sick and stopped all the women in Abimelek’s house from having babies. But then God talked to Abimelek, and Abimelek gave Sarah back to Abraham. So then Abraham prayed to God, and God made Abimelek better, and he made Abimelek’s wife better, and he made all the women that lived in Abimelek’s house better too, so that they had babies again.

Genesis 20:2

While Abraham and Sarah were in Gerar, Abraham told everyone that his wife Sarah was his sister, not his wife. The big boss of Gerar was called Abimelek. He believed Abraham, so he sent somebody to get Sarah so that he could marry her.

Genesis 26:26

Abimelek, the big boss of the Philistia mob, he wanted to talk to Isaac again. So he left his home in Gerar, and he went to Isaac’s camp in Beersheba. He took 2 other men with him. One of those men was called Ahuzath, and he was Abimelek’s helper. The other man was called Ficol, and he was the leader of Abimelek’s army.

Genesis 26:28

Then they said to Isaac, “We know that Yahweh your God is with you, and he helps you with everything you do. So we want you to make an agreement with us.

Genesis 28:15

You can be sure that I will be with you wherever you go. I will look after you and I will keep you safe. Right now, you are going to another country. But one day, I will bring you back to this country again. Yes, I will stay with you, and I will keep all these promises that I’m making to you.”

Genesis 30:27

But Laban said, “Please listen to me. I’m asking you to stay here with me. You see, Yahweh your God is only good to me when you are here. I learned that by magic.

Genesis 31:5

Jacob said to them, “I can see that your father isn’t friendly to me any more. But God is still with me. He is the one that looked after my father Isaac, and he is with me.

Matthew 1:23

“There will be a young woman that never slept with a man, like a woman does with her husband, but she will have a baby boy. That boy will have a special name, Immanuel. That name means God is with us.”

Romans 8:31

So as we think about all of this, what do we learn? It is this. We are on God’s side. He is with us, so it doesn’t matter who is against us, they can’t win against God.

1 Corinthians 14:25

Those messages from God will show them every secret thing that they think about, and they will get down on the ground and show respect to God. And they will say, “It’s true, God is really here with you mob.”

1 Samuel 24:22

David promised to do what Saul asked. Then Saul went back home. But David went back with his men to the hill country, and they stayed in a safe place.

1 Samuel 3:19

After that, Samuel grew up to become a man. And God was with him, so the words he said were really true.