As a distortion of God's created designs, sexual abuse (SA) carries a unique devastation-factor. Abuse that is sexual in nature damages a spectrum of internal and external aspects of personhood. In particular, the core realities of: (1) self-identity, (2) community, (3) and spiritual communion with God can be deeply fractured through SA. In light of the significance of the image of God, movement toward healing includes strengthening personal agency, processing profound boundary ruptures, and managing disillusionment with God. Due to the multi-faceted trauma of sexual abuse (i.e., physical, social, spiritual) spiritual formation programs must not only plan for the unique profile of abuse victims, but also need to incorporate a fuller understanding and praxis of the realities of embodiment, ritual, and theocentric metaphor into their transformational goals. Analysis includes first-person experience, anthropological science, and theological reflection.

In Gen. 20.11-13, ‭םיהלא‬ is ambiguously used with a plural verb in the Masoretic version of Gen. 20.13. ‭םיהלא‭ could refer to the true God or pagan ‘gods’. In this article, this unconventional grammatical feature is explored from multiple angles (e.g. morphology, grammar/syntax, history of interpretation) with sensitivity to the literary-theological movement of the narrative in its final form. Part and parcel of the history of interpretation involves how versions (the Samaritan Pentateuch, Targum Onkelos, and Septuagint Genesis) interpreted Gen. 20.13, shedding light on how this ambiguity may have been navigated by ancient interpreters. It is argued in this article that the Masoretic text’s plural causative ‭ועתה‬ with ‭םיהלא‬ makes ‘the gods’ an exegetically viable translation in this context. Some contemporary translations are evaluated and some recommendations are offered. This grammatical accommodation of Gen. 20.13 gains support from Abraham’s personal and political duress in which a powerful gentile king arraigns the patriarch who, in turn, contextualizes his message to a supposedly godless setting.

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