Common English Bible CEB
The Message Bible MSG
1 The LORD was attentive to Sarah just as he had said, and the LORD carried out just what he had promised her.
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God visited Sarah exactly as he said he would; God did to Sarah what he promised:
2 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Abraham when he was old, at the very time God had told him.
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Sarah became pregnant and gave Abraham a son in his old age, and at the very time God had set.
3 Abraham named his son—the one Sarah bore him—Isaac.
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Abraham named him Isaac.
4 Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old just as God had commanded him.
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When his son was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him just as God had commanded.
5 Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born.
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Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.
6 Sarah said, "God has given me laughter. Everyone who hears about it will laugh with me."
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Sarah said, God has blessed me with laughter and all who get the news will laugh with me!
7 She said, "Who could have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse sons? But now I've given birth to a son when he was old!"
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She also said, Whoever would have suggested to Abraham that Sarah would one day nurse a baby! Yet here I am! I've given the old man a son!
8 The boy grew and stopped nursing. On the day he stopped nursing, Abraham prepared a huge banquet.
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The baby grew and was weaned. Abraham threw a big party on the day Isaac was weaned.
9 Sarah saw Hagar's son laughing, the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham.
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One day Sarah saw the son that Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, poking fun at her son Isaac.
10 So she said to Abraham, "Send this servant away with her son! This servant's son won't share the inheritance with my son Isaac."
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She told Abraham, "Get rid of this slave woman and her son. No child of this slave is going to share inheritance with my son Isaac!"
11 This upset Abraham terribly because the boy was his son.
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The matter gave great pain to Abraham - after all, Ishmael was his son.
12 God said to Abraham, "Don't be upset about the boy and your servant. Do everything Sarah tells you to do because your descendants will be traced through Isaac.
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But God spoke to Abraham, "Don't feel badly about the boy and your maid. Do whatever Sarah tells you. Your descendants will come through Isaac.
13 But I will make of your servant's son a great nation too, because he is also your descendant."
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Regarding your maid's son, be assured that I'll also develop a great nation from him - he's your son too."
14 Abraham got up early in the morning, took some bread and a flask of water, and gave it to Hagar. He put the boy in her shoulder sling and sent her away. She left and wandered through the desert near Beer-sheba.
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Abraham got up early the next morning, got some food together and a canteen of water for Hagar, put them on her back and sent her away with the child. She wandered off into the desert of Beersheba.
15 Finally the water in the flask ran out, and she put the boy down under one of the desert shrubs.
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When the water was gone, she left the child under a shrub
16 She walked away from him about as far as a bow shot and sat down, telling herself, I can't bear to see the boy die. She sat at a distance, cried out in grief, and wept.
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and went off, fifty yards or so. She said, "I can't watch my son die." As she sat, she broke into sobs.
17 God heard the boy's cries, and God's messenger called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "Hagar! What's wrong? Don't be afraid. God has heard the boy's cries over there.
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Meanwhile, God heard the boy crying. The angel of God called from Heaven to Hagar, "What's wrong, Hagar? Don't be afraid. God has heard the boy and knows the fix he's in.
18 Get up, pick up the boy, and take him by the hand because I will make of him a great nation."
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Up now; go get the boy. Hold him tight. I'm going to make of him a great nation."
19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. She went over, filled the water flask, and gave the boy a drink.
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Just then God opened her eyes. She looked. She saw a well of water. She went to it and filled her canteen and gave the boy a long, cool drink.
20 God remained with the boy; he grew up, lived in the desert, and became an expert archer.
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God was on the boy's side as he grew up. He lived out in the desert and became a skilled archer.
21 He lived in the Paran desert, and his mother found him an Egyptian wife.
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He lived in the Paran wilderness. And his mother got him a wife from Egypt.
22 At that time Abimelech, and Phicol commander of his forces, said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything that you do.
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At about that same time, Abimelech and the captain of his troops, Phicol, spoke to Abraham: "No matter what you do, God is on your side.
23 So give me your word under God that you won't cheat me, my children, or my descendants. Just as I have treated you fairly, so you must treat me and the land in which you are an immigrant."
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So swear to me that you won't do anything underhanded to me or any of my family. For as long as you live here, swear that you'll treat me and my land as well as I've treated you."
24 Abraham said, "I give you my word.
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Abraham said, "I swear it."
25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech's servants had seized.
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At the same time, Abraham confronted Abimelech over the matter of a well of water that Abimelech's servants had taken.
26 Abimelech said, "I don't know who has done this, and you didn't tell me. I didn't even hear about it until today."
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Abimelech said, "I have no idea who did this; you never told me about it; this is the first I've heard of it."
27 Abraham took flocks and cattle, gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them drew up a treaty.
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So the two of them made a covenant. Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech.
28 Abraham set aside, by themselves, seven female lambs from the flock.
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Abraham set aside seven sheep from his flock.
29 So Abimelech said to Abraham, "What are these seven lambs you've set apart?"
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Abimelech said, "What does this mean? These seven sheep you've set aside."
30 Abraham said, "These seven lambs that you take from me will attest that I dug this well."
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Abraham said, "It means that when you accept these seven sheep, you take it as proof that I dug this well, that it's my well."
31 Therefore, the name of that place is Beer-sheba because there they gave each other their word.
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That's how the place got named Beersheba (the Oath-Well), because the two of them swore a covenant oath there.
32 After they drew up a treaty at Beer-sheba, Abimelech, and Phicol commander of his forces, returned to the land of the Philistines.
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After they had made the covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and his commander, Phicol, left and went back to Philistine territory.
33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and he worshipped there in the name of the LORD, El Olam.
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Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and worshiped God there, praying to the Eternal God.
34 Abraham lived as an immigrant in the Philistines' land for a long time.
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Abraham lived in Philistine country for a long time.