Genesis 20:9

Summary

Abimelech confronts Abraham with a series of accusatory questions, asking what Abraham has done to him and his kingdom, and asserting that Abraham has brought upon him a great wrongdoing and acted in ways that should not be done.

Key words

• machem — not present; instead meh ("what?", H4100) appears twice, an interrogative pronoun opening each rhetorical accusation ("what have you done," "what have I sinned").
• chaTati ("have I sinned", H2398) — qal perfect, 1st person singular, expressing a completed state Abimelech questions about himself ("have I sinned against you?").
• heveta ("you have brought", H0935P) — hiphil (causative) perfect, 2nd person masculine singular: the causative stem marks that Abraham caused something (a sin) to come upon Abimelech and his kingdom, rather than simply "sinning" himself.
• chata'ah gedolah ("a sin," H2401 + "great," H1419A) — feminine singular noun with feminine singular adjective in agreement, naming the offense as singular and severe.
• ye'aSu ("they will be done", H6213A) — niphal (passive) imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural, describing deeds that are not normally done — the passive voice removes the actor, framing the deeds as categorically improper regardless of who performs them.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of short interrogative and causal clauses joined by narrative va ("and", H9001) forms for the introduction (vaYiqra, "he summoned," and vaYomer, "he said"), then shifting into direct speech composed almost entirely of questions. The double use of meh ("what?", H4100) creates parallel accusations: "meh-'asita lanu" ("what have you done to us") and "u-meh-chatati lakh" ("and what have I sinned against you"). Both use qal perfect verbs — 'asita ("you have done", H6213A) and chatati ("I have sinned", H2398) — placing the actions as completed facts under interrogation, not open possibilities.

The causal clause beginning with ki ("for/that", H3588A) shifts the verb to hiphil with heveta ("you have brought", H0935P), a causative form indicating that Abraham did not merely commit an act but brought about a consequence — a "chata'ah gedolah" ("great sin/guilt", H2401 + H1419A) — affecting both Abimelech personally ('alai, "upon me") and his mamlakhti ("my kingdom", H4467, construct form marking possession). The final sentence uses ma'asim ("deeds", H4639K, plural) qualified by the relative 'asher ("which", H0834A) and the negated niphal imperfect lo-ye'asu ("that are not done", H6213A) — a passive construction generalizing the deeds as improper in themselves, independent of the agent, before closing with the qal perfect 'asita ("you have done", H6213A) repeating the accusation from the opening line.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the closing line as "ἔργον ὃ οὐδεὶς ποιήσει" ("a deed that no one will do"), supplying an explicit subject ("no one") where the Hebrew niphal ye'aSu ("they will be done", H6213A) leaves the agent unstated. The Vulgate's "quæ non debuisti facere" ("which you ought not to have done") introduces a modal notion of obligation (debuisti, "you ought") not present in the Hebrew's simple negated passive construction.