New International Version NIV
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.
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And the Lord came to Sarah as he had said and did to her as he had undertaken.
2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.
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And Sarah became with child, and gave Abraham a son when he was old, at the time named by God.
3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.
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And Abraham gave to his son, to whom Sarah had given birth, the name Isaac.
4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him.
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And when his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham made him undergo circumcision, as God had said to him.
5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
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Now Abraham was a hundred years old when the birth of Isaac took place.
6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”
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And Sarah said, God has given me cause for laughing, and everyone who has news of it will be laughing with me.
7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
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And she said, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would have a child at her breast? for see, I have given him a son now when he is old.
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.
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And when the child was old enough to be taken from the breast, Abraham made a great feast.
9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking,
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And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian playing with Isaac.
10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
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So she said to Abraham, Send away that woman and her son: for the son of that woman is not to have a part in the heritage with my son Isaac.
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.
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And this was a great grief to Abraham because of his son.
12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
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But God said, Let it not be a grief to you because of the boy and Hagar his mother; give ear to whatever Sarah says to you, because it is from Isaac that your seed will take its name.
13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
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And I will make a nation of the son of your servant-woman, because he is your seed.
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
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And early in the morning Abraham got up, and gave Hagar some bread and a water-skin, and put the boy on her back, and sent her away: and she went, wandering in the waste land of Beer-sheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.
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And when all the water in the skin was used up, she put the child down under a tree.
16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob.
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And she went some distance away, about an arrow flight, and seating herself on the earth, she gave way to bitter weeping, saying, Let me not see the death of my child.
17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.
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And the boy's cry came to the ears of God; and the angel of God said to Hagar from heaven, Hagar, why are you weeping? have no fear, for the child's cry has come to the ears of God.
18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
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Come, take your child in your arms, for I will make of him a great nation.
19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
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Then God made her eyes open, and she saw a water-spring, and she got water in the skin and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer.
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And God was with the boy, and he became tall and strong, and he became a bowman, living in the waste land.
21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
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And while he was in the waste land of Paran, his mother got him a wife from the land of Egypt.
22 At that time Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.
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Now at that time, Abimelech and Phicol, the captain of his army, said to Abraham, I see that God is with you in all you do.
23 Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.”
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Now, then, give me your oath, in the name of God, that you will not be false to me or to my sons after me, but that as I have been good to you, so you will be to me and to this land where you have been living.
24 Abraham said, “I swear it.”
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And Abraham said, I will give you my oath.
25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelek about a well of water that Abimelek’s servants had seized.
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But Abraham made a protest to Abimelech because of a water-hole which Abimelech's servants had taken by force.
26 But Abimelek said, “I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.”
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But Abimelech said, I have no idea who has done this thing; you never gave me word of it, and I had no knowledge of it till this day.
27 So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a treaty.
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And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made an agreement together.
28 Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock,
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And Abraham put seven young lambs of the flock on one side by themselves.
29 and Abimelek asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?”
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Then Abimelech said, What are these seven lambs which you have put on one side?
30 He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well.”
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And he said, Take these seven lambs from me as a witness that I have made this water-hole.
31 So that place was called Beersheba, because the two men swore an oath there.
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So he gave that place the name Beer-sheba, because there the two of them had given their oaths.
32 After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines.
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So they made an agreement at Beer-sheba, and Abimelech and Phicol, the captain of his army, went back to the land of the Philistines.
33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.
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And Abraham, after planting a holy tree in Beer-sheba, gave worship to the name of the Lord, the Eternal God.
34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
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And Abraham went on living in the land of the Philistines as in a strange country.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.