Genesis 20:7

Gen 20:7 Now therefore restore the man [his] wife; for he [is] a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore [her] not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that [are] thine.

Ver. 7. Now therefore restore.] Let knowledge reform what ignorance offended in. "The times of ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent". {Act 17:30} As a master, when he sets up his servant a double light, expects more work and better. We have a privilege not only above the blind Ethnics, but above the Church of the Old Testament. The sea about the altar was brazen; {1Ki 7:23} and what eyes could pierce through it? Now our sea about the throne is glassy, {Rev 4:6} "like unto crystal," clearly conveying the light and sight of God to our eyes. God hath "destroyed the face of the covering cast over all people". {Isa 25:7} "And we all with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord," must see to it, that we be "changed into the same image, from glory to glory". {2Co 3:18} If those good souls passed "from strength to strength," {Psa 84:7} travelling many a weary step, to see the face of God in Sion, in the obscure glass of the ceremonies; voe torpori nostro , woe to us, if, now that such a light is sprung up, we walk not as children of that light! To know heavenly things, is to "ascend into heaven". {Pro 30:3-4} And to know our Master’s will is a great talent; of all other, there is a "much" in that. {Luk 12:48} But then, not to do his will so known, is to "be beaten with many stripes." None so deep in hell, as your knowing men, {a} because they "imprisoned the truth" (which is as a prophet from God) "in unrighteousness"; {Rom 1:18} they kept it in their heads, as rain in the middle region, not suffering it to warm their hearts, or work upon their affections; therefore came wrath upon them to the utmost. None are oftener drowned than they that have most skill in swimming. So none sooner miscarry than men of greatest parts.

For he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee.] The proper work of a prophet. "If they be prophets, let them entreat the Lord": {Jer 27:18} they shall be heard, when others shall not; as the father’s blessing is most effectual; as the child could not be raised till Elisha came himself, nor the sick be healed, till the elders of the Church be called for. {Jas 5:14} The apostles divided their time between praying and preaching. {Act 6:4} So did the priests of the Old Testament; "They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, they shall put incense before thee". {Deu 33:10} As with every sacrifice there was incense, so should every ministerial duty be performed with prayer. St Paul begins his Epistles with prayer, and proceeds and ends in like manner. What is it that he would have every of his Epistles stamped with by his own hand, but prayer for all his people. {2Th 3:17-18}

Thou shalt surely die.] So dear to God are his saints, that he grievously punisheth even kings for their sakes; as Jehoram "in his bowels with an incurable disease," {2Ch 21:18} the two Herods by the lousy malady. {b} Maximinus the emperor, a cruel persecutor, cast upon his bed of sickness by God, was glad to crave the prayers of the Church, as Eusebius relates it. Valens being to subscribe an order for the banishment of Basil, was smitten with a sudden trembling of his hand, that he could not. Afterward he was burned to death by the Goths, whom he had corrupted by sending them Arian teachers. {c} The putting out of that French king’s eyes, which promised {d} before with his eyes to see Anne du Bourg (one of God’s true servants) burned, who seeth not to be the stroke of God’s own hand? Then, his son Francis, not regarding his father’s stripe, would needs yet proceed in the burning the same man. And did not the same God give him such a blow on the ear as cost him his life? As for Charles IX, author of the French massacre, though he were wittily warned by Beza to beware (upon occasion of that new star appearing in Cassiopeia, Nov. 1572, which he applied to that star at Christ’s birth, and to the infanticide then) with, Tu vero, Herodes sanguinolente, time ; yet because he repented not, God gave him blood to drink, as he was worthy; for the fifth month after the vanishing of this star, Constans fama est illum, dum e variis corporis partibus sanguis emanaret, in lecto saepe volutatum, inter terribilium blasphemiarum diras tantam sanguinis vim proiecisse, ut paucas post horas, mortuus fuerit .{ e} This Charles IX, in the massacre of Paris, beholding the bloody bodies of the butchered Protestants, and feeding his eye upon that woeful spectacle, is said to have breathed out this bloody speech, Quam bonus est odor hostis mortui !{ f} Another great queen, seeing the ground covered with naked carcasses of her Protestant subjects said, {g} that it was the bravest piece of tapestry that ever she beheld; {h} but it was not long that she beheld it. Our Queen Mary, though non natura sed Pontificiorum arte ferox - ipsa solum nomen regium ferebat, coeterum omnem regni petestatem Pharisaei possidebant - died {i} of a tympany, or, as some (by her much sighing before her death) supposed, she died of thought and sorrow, either for the loss of Calais, or for the departure of King Philip. This king, going from the Low Countries by sea into Spain, with resolution never to remove thence, fell into a storm, in which almost all the fleet was wrecked, his household stuff of very great value lost, and himself hardly escaped. He said he was delivered by the singular providence of God, to root out Lutheranism, which he presently began to do, protesting that he had rather have no subjects, than Lutheran subjects, {j} Whether it was this Philip or his successor, I cannot certainly tell. But Carolus Scribanius tells a lamentable story of one of those two Philips. {k} Hear him else, Ulcerum magnitudinem, multitudinem, acerbitatem, foetorem, lecto tanquam durae cruci, anno integro, affixionem, ut in nullam prope commoveri partem possit, acres continuosque annorum sex podagrae dolores, febrim hecticam cum duplici per annos duos, tertiuna intima, adeoque et ossium medullas, depascentem gravissimam 22. dierum dysenteriam, quae nec moram daret, nec detersionem admitteret, perpetua stomachi fastidia, nullo potu sitim medicandam, capitis et oculorum insanos dolores, ingentem puris ex ulceribus redundantiam, quae binas indies scutellas divite paedore impleret: inter haec, malignissimi odoris gravitatem, quae omnem illi somnum ademerat; haec inquam, rex potentissimus longo tempore prepessus’ est . So true is that of an ancient, Potentes potenter torquebuntur ." Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings: kiss the Son, lest he be angry". {Psa 2:12} He can soon break men with his iron mace, and dash them in pieces as a potter’s vessel. Ingentia beneficia, ingentia flagitia, ingentia supplicia , as the Centurists have it. Christ shall reign, when kings and Caesars shall lie in the dust. His name is "King of kings, and Lord of lords"; {Rev 19:16} and this name is written "upon his vesture," that all creatures may see his power, and "upon his thigh," to show the eternity of his monarchy, in his children and posterity. This "everlasting Father" shall have an endless government. {Isa 9:6-7} "He shall see his seed," the fruit of his thigh; "he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands". {Isa 53:10} I shut up this discourse with the story of Ladislaus, king of Bohemia and Hungary, who most unjustly had caused Ladislaus, son to Hunniades, to be beheaded; and together with many other Popish princes, had conspired to root out the true Christians in Bohemia; which should have been put in execution at the time of his marriage; immediately before, in the midst of his great preparations he fell sick, and within thirty-six hours died of a pestilent sore in his groin. {l} Like as Attilas, {m} that king of the Huns, and scourge of Christendom, had died before, being suffocated in his own blood, at such a time as he celebrated his wedding, having distempered his body with excess in wine and venery, adeo ut proverbio de eo dictum sit, eum per eandem partem animam profudisse, per quam acceperat ,{ n} He went out of the world the same way that he came into it, and sent his soul as a harbinger to the devil to provide room for his body.

{a} Sapientes sapienter descendunt in infernum . - Bern.

{b} Non desunt qui ad phthiriasin referunt, quo avus quoque ipius Herod. Mag. periit. - Beza Annot. in Acts xii

{c} Orosius.

{d} He protested, Siquam sui corporu partem Lutherianismo sciret infectam revulsurum illico, ne longius serperet . - Sleid Comment. lib. ix.

{e} Act. and Mon., 1914. - Camden’s Elis., fol. 165. - Act. and Mon., fol. 1949.

{f} Spec. Bel. Sac., p. 248.

{g} M. Newcomen, Fast Serm., 27.

{h} Like Hannibal’s O Formosum Spectaculum .

{i} De Alexandra Josephus. - Act. and Mon., fol. 1901.

{j} Hist. of Coun. of Trent, 417.

{k} Carol. Scriban., Instit. Princip., cap. 20.

{l} Bucholcer.

{m} Paul. Jovius.

{n} Jacob. Revius.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gen 20:7. He is a prophet — A person favoured with peculiar intercourse with God, who is made acquainted with his will and purposes in an extraordinary way, and is the interpreter of that will, and the revealer of those purposes to others. This seems to be the meaning of the appellation prophet, first, as we here see, given to Abraham in the Scriptures.

Gen 20:9-10. Thou hast done deeds that ought not to be done — Equivocation and dissimulation, however they may be palliated, are very ill things, and by no means to be admitted in any case. He takes it as a very great injury to himself and his family, that Abraham had thus exposed them to temptation and sin. What have I offended thee? — If I had been thy worst enemy thou couldest not have done me a worse turn, nor taken a more effectual course to be revenged on me. He challenges him to assign any just cause he had to suspect them as a dangerous people for an honest man to live among. What sawest thou that thou hast done this thing? — What reason hadst thou to think, that if we had known her to be thy wife, thou wouldest have been exposed to any danger by it?

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20:7 Abraham’s prayer saved the king’s life and restored his family (20:17-18). Abimelech learned that Abraham’s God was sovereign, and that Abraham, God’s prophet, had received God’s revelation and would intercede for others (see Num 12:13; Deut 9:20), even if he did not always live up to the office.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For the prayer of the godly is of force towards God.

That is, one, to whom God revealeth himself familiarly.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 7. He is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee] The word prophet, which we have from the Greek προφητες, and which is compounded of προ, before, and φημι, I speak, means, in its general acceptation, one who speaks of things before they happen, i.e., one who foretells future events. But that this was not the original notion of the word, its use in this place sufficiently proves. Abraham certainly was not a prophet in the present general acceptation of the term, and for the Hebrew נביא nabi, we must seek some other meaning. I have, in a discourse entitled "The Christian Prophet and his Work," proved that the proper ideal meaning of the original word is to pray, entreat, make supplication, c., and this meaning of it I have justified at large both from its application in this place, and from its pointed use in the case of Saul, mentioned 1 Samuel 10, and from the case of the priests of Baal, 1 Kings 18, where prophesying most undoubtedly means making prayer and supplication. As those who were in habits of intimacy with God by prayer and faith were found the most proper persons to communicate his mind to man, both with respect to the present and the future, hence, נביא nabi, the intercessor, became in process of time the public instructer or preacher, and also the predicter of future events, because to such faithful praying men God revealed the secret of his will. Hence St. Paul, 1Co 14:3, seems to restrain the word wholly to the interpreting the mind of God to the people, and their instruction in Divine things, for, says he, he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort. See the discourse on this text referred to above. The title was also given to men eminent for eloquence and for literary abilities hence Aaron, because he was the spokesman of Moses to the Egyptian king, was termed נביא nabi, prophet; Ex 4:16; Ex 7:1. And Epimenides, a heathen poet, is expressly styled προφητης, a prophet, by St. Paul, Tit 1:12, just as poets in general were termed vates among the Romans, which properly signifies the persons who professed to interpret the will of the gods to their votaries, after prayers and sacrifices duly performed. In Arabic the word [Arabic] naba has nearly the same meaning as in Hebrew, but in the first conjugation it has a meaning which may cast light upon the subject in general. It signifies to itinerate, move from one place or country to another, compelled thereto either by persecution or the command of God; exivit de una regione in aliam. - [Arabic] migrans de loco in locum. - GOLIUS. Hence Mohammed was called [Arabic] an nabi, because of his sudden removeal from Mecca to Medina, when, pretending to a Divine commission, his townsmen sought to take away his life: e Mecca exiens Medinam, unde Muhammed suis [Arabic] Nabi Allah dictus fuit. - GOLIUS. If this meaning belonged originally to the Hebrew word, it will apply with great force to the case of Abraham, whose migratory, itinerant kind of life, generally under the immediate direction of God, might have given him the title nabi. However this may be, the term was a title of the highest respectability and honour, both among the He brews and Arabs, and continues so to this day. And from the Hebrews the word, in all the importance and dignity of its meaning, was introduced among the heathens in the προφητης and vates of the Greeks and Romans. See Clarke on Ge 15:1.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Now therefore, restore the man his wife. God does not now speak of Abraham as of a common man, but as of one who is so peculiarly dear unto himself, that He undertakes the defense of his conjugal bed, by a kind of privilege. He calls Abraham a prophet, for the sake of honor; as if he were charging Abimelech with having injured a man of great and singular excellence; that he might not wonder at the greatness of the punishment inflicted upon him. And although the word prophet is properly the name of an office; yet I think it has here a more comprehensive import, and that it is put for a chosen man, and one who is familiar with God. For since at that time, no Scripture was in existence, God not only made himself known by dreams and visions but chose also to himself rare and excellent men, to scatter abroad the seed of piety, by which the world would become more inexcusable. But since Abraham is a prophet, he is constituted, as it were, a mediator between God and Abimelech. Christ, even then, was the only Mediator; but this was no reason why some men should not pray for others; especially they who excelled in holiness, and were accepted by God; as the Apostle teaches, that

‘the fervent prayers of a righteous man avail much.’ (James 5:16.)

And we ought not, at this day, to neglect such intercession, provided it does not obscure the grace of Christ, nor lead us away from Him. But that, under this pretext, the Papists resort to the patronage of the dead, is absurd. For as the Lord does not here send the king of Gerar to Noah, or to any one of the dead fathers, but into the presence of the living Abraham; so the only precept we have on this subject is, that, by mutually praying for each other, we should cultivate charity among ourselves.

And if thou restore her not. Hence we are to learn, the intention of those threats and denunciations with which God terrifies men; namely, forcibly to impel those to repentance, who are too backward. In the beginning of this discourse, it had been absolutely declared, ‘Thou art a dead man;’ now the condition is added, ‘Unless thou restore her.’ Yet the meaning of both expressions is the same; though at first God speaks more sharply, that he may inspire the offender with the greater terror. But now, when he is subdued, God expresses his intention more clearly, and leaves him the hope of pardon and salvation. Thus is the knot untied, with which many entangle themselves, when they perceive that God does not always, or instantly, execute the punishments which he has denounced; because they deem it a sign, either that God has changed his purpose, or that he pretends a different thing by his word, from that which he has secretly decreed. He threatens destruction to the Ninevites, by Jonah, and afterwards spared them. (Jonah 3:4.) The unskilful do not perceive how they can escape from one of two absurdities; namely, that God has retracted his sentence; or that he had feigned himself to be about to do what he really did not intend. But if we hold fast this principle, that the inculcation of repentance is included in all threats, the difficulty will be solved. For although God, in the first instance, addresses men as lost; and, therefore, penetrates them with the present fear of death, still the end is to be regarded. For if he invites them to repentance, it follows, that the hope of pardon is left them, provided they repent.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(7) He is a prophet.—This is not said as an aggravation of Abimelech’s sin, but as an encouragement to him to restore Sarah. It is therefore rightly joined with the words “He shall pray for thee.” For the word prophet is used here in its old sense of spokesman (comp. Exod. Gen_7:1, with Gen_4:16), and especially of such an one as mediates between God and man. There was a true feeling that God in His own nature is beyond the reach of man (Job_9:32-33; Job_16:21; 1Ti_6:16); and this in heathen nations led to men peopling their heavens with a multitude of minor deities. In Israel, after the founding of the prophetic schools by Samuel, the prophets became an order, whose office it was partly to enliven the services of the Temple with sacred minstrelsy (1Ch_25:1), but chiefly to be God’s spokesmen, both declaring His will to Jew and Gentile ( Jer_1:5), and also maintaining religion and holiness by earnest preaching and other such means. In this way they were forerunners, and even representatives, of Christ, who is the one true and only Mediator between God and man. Not only Abraham, therefore, but the patriarchs generally are called “Christs and prophets (Psa_105:15), as being speakers for God to man, and for man to God, until the true Christ and prophet came. Abimelech, moreover, is thus taught that he does not himself hold a near relation to God, but requires some one to speak for him; perhaps, too, he would gather from it that he had need of fuller instruction, and that he ought to try to attain to a higher level, and that Abraham would become a prophet to him in its other sense of being a teacher. (For the prophet as an intercessor, see Exo_8:28-29; Deu_9:19-20; 1Sa_7:5; 1Sa_12:19; 1Sa_12:23; 1Ki_13:6; Job_42:8.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. for he is a prophet] Abraham is here given the title of “prophet,” or “nâbî” (the first occurrence of it in Scripture). The prophet—the one who utters or pours forth—is one who is in intimate relations with God, moved by His Spirit, protected by His Power. From 1Sa_9:9 we learn the nabi was in old times called roeh, or Seer. To call Abraham a “prophet” (nâbî) is, therefore, an anachronism, indicating the atmosphere of the monarchical period. The prophet was one who was privileged to have intercourse with God, and was bound to communicate “the word” to his own kith and kin (Gen_18:19). He was their representative, their intercessor, their spokesman. He who has the vision, rô’eh, must declare the message, nâbî.

A comment on this passage is supplied by Psa_105:14-15, “he suffered no man to do them wrong … and do my prophets no harm.” Perhaps the prophets of Israel traced their “guild” back to Abraham as their founder, as well as to Moses, their greatest leader (Deu_34:10).

pray] i.e. intercede. For the efficacy of a “prophet’s” intercession, cf. Deu_9:20; 1Sa_7:5; 1Sa_12:19; 1Sa_12:23; Jer_7:16.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now therefore restore the man his wife,.... Which will be a full proof and evidence to all of the integrity of thy heart, and the innocence of thine hands, which thou pleadest, and which I own:

for he is a prophet; familiar with God, dear unto him, a friend of his, to whom he communicates his secrets; is able to foretell things to come, as well as to interpret the mind of God, and instruct in the knowledge of divine things, all which agrees with Abraham's character; and he is the first man that is dignified in Scripture with the title of a prophet; so he is called in the Apocrypha:"Beware of all whoredom, my son, and chiefly take a wife of the seed of thy fathers, and take not a strange woman to wife, which is not of thy father's tribe: for we are the children of the prophets, Noe, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: remember, my son, that our fathers from the beginning, even that they all married wives of their own kindred, and were blessed in their children, and their seed shall inherit the land.'' (Tobit 4:12)Jarchi thinks this is observed to encourage Abimelech to return his wife to him, because being a prophet he knew he had not touched her, and therefore would receive her more readily, and entertain no ill opinion of her; but rather it is mentioned for the reason following:

and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; it being one part of the business of a prophet to pray for others, and make intercession for them, especially in any distress or trouble, see Jer 27:18. Prophets were praying persons, had usually a great gift in prayer, and great power with God, and prevailed with him for the good of others; and such an one was Abraham; and it is here intimated, that upon the restoration of his wife to him, as he was familiar with God, and had an interest with him, he would make use of it, and pray for Abimelech, that whatsoever offence he had been guilty of to God or men, it might be forgiven, and that he might be healed of the disease with which he was smitten, and so recover of it, and live in health and happiness:

and if thou restore her not, know thou, that thou shalt surely die,

thou, and all that are thine: if he proceeded to take her to be his wife, and defile her, he is strongly assured that he should die, death being the punishment for adultery before the law of Moses, see Gen 38:24; and not only he, but all his family, especially such who had been, or would be accessory to this affair, and even all who might he justly punished of God for other sins they had committed; and Abimelech being punished, both in his own person, and in his servants and subjects, the greater his punishment was, the greater abhorrence and detestation was shown to the sin he would be guilty of, to deter him from which this threatening is given out.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

A prophet. One under my particular care, to whom I reveal many things. --- He shall pray for thee. Behold, God will sometimes grant, at the request of his saints, what he would deny even such as Abimelech or the friends of Job. Is not this sufficient encouragement for us, to have recourse to the intercession of the saints? And can any one be so foolish as to pretend this is making gods of them, and shewing them an idolatrous worship? (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He is a prophet, a person very dear to me, and familiarly acquainted with me, and therefore the injuries done to him I take as done to myself. See Psa 105:15.

He shall pray for thee, which is one part of a prophet’s work, Jer 14:11; 15:1.

Thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine; which was not unjust, because they all had sins of their own, for which they deserved death whensoever God thought fit to inflict it; and God might take this occasion to do it, that in punishing them he might also punish the king, whose subjects they were.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. He is a prophet — Here the word prophet first occurs, but the spirit of prophecy had been abroad long before, speaking though Enoch and Noah. A prophet, נביא, is one who announces a divine message. The message itself may refer to things past, present, or future, so that prediction, or foretelling of events, is only incidental to prophecy, not its leading idea. On the distinction between the names prophet and seer, see note on 1Sa_9:9. Abraham was a prophet to Abimelech, and sent to pray for him; for prayer and praise were elements of prophesying. In the offering of sacrifices and in his intercession for Sodom, he appeared as priest. In his battles with the eastern kings, and in his disposal of the spoil, he appeared as king; so that in the father of the faithful we may see these several offices combined.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now therefore restore the man his wife. Literally, the wife of the man, God now speaking of Abraham non tanquam de homine quolibet, sod peculiariter sibi charum (Calvin). For he is a prophet Nabi, from naba, to cause to bubble up; hence to pour forth, applied to one who speaks by a Divine afflatus (Deu_13:2; Jud_1:6:8; 1Sa_9:9; 1Ki_22:7) The office of the Nabi was twofold to announce the will of God to melt, (Exo_4:15 Exo_7:1) and also to intercede with God for men. (Ver. 7; Jer_7:16 Jer_11:14 Jer_14:11) The use of the term Nabi in this place neither proves that the spirit of prophecy had not existed from the beginning, (cf. Gen_9:25-27) nor shows that the Pentateuch, which always uses this term, cannot be of greater antiquity than the time of Samuel, before which, according to 1Sa_9:9, the prophet was called a seer (Bohlen, Hartmann) As used in the Pentateuch the term describes the recipient of Divine revelations, and as such it was incorporated in the Mosaic legislation. During the period of the Judges the term Roeh appears to have come into use, and to have held its ground until the reformation of Samuel, when the older theocratic term was again reverted to (vide Havernick, And he shall pray for thee (vide supra), and thou shalt live. Literally, live thou, the imperative being used for the future in strong prophetic assurances. (cf. Psa_128:5; vide Gesenius, And if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, literally, dying thou shalt die (cf. Gen_2:17) thou, and all that are thine.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

השב אשת האיש RESTORE THE MAN’S WIFE and do not think that she will be repulsive in his eyes and that he will not take her back or that he will hate you and will not pray for you

כי נביא הוא FOR HE IS A PROPHET and he knows that you have not touched her (Genesis Rabbah 52:8); therefore—ויתפלל בעדך HE WILL PRAY FOR THEE.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

. ועתה...כי נביא הוא. He is therefore close to Me, and I am close to him, willing to respond favourably to his prayer. I will not forgive you even when you give back this man’s wife to him, until he manages to pacify me by means of his prayer. Then I will forgive you, and you will know this when all the afflicted people will have been cured from their affliction. The fact that Sarah was married is not the only consideration in this affair. The fact that you took her against her will is a sin of violence, a very severe sin, all the more so seeing that she is the sister of such a righteous man as Avraham. Violating the feelings of such a man constitutes a sin in its own right. You are guilty of punishment, even if not of the death penalty.

וחיה, as if the Torah had written ותחיה “and you will live.” The construction is parallel to Genesis 12,3 והיה ברכה, “you will become a source of blessing. The verb ותרפא is in a “weak” mode as in Joshua 5,8 עד חיותם, ”until they have re- covered.” We find a similar construction in Isaiah 38,21 וימרחו על השחין ויחי, “if they will smear it on the rash he will recover.”

וכל אשר לך, the reason why they have all be stricken is that they all approved of what you did and no one suggested that you give back Sarah to Avraham.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.