The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 Then came a time of great need in the land, like that which had been before in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.
1
There was another famine in the land besides the earlier one during the time of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.
2 And the Lord came to him in a vision and said, Do not go down to Egypt; keep in the land of which I will give you knowledge:
2
The Lord had appeared to Isaac and had said, "Do not go to Egypt; stay in this land, where I tell you to stay.
3 Keep in this land, and I will be with you and give you my blessing; for to you and to your seed will I give all these lands, giving effect to the oath which I made to your father Abraham;
3
Live here, and I will be with you and bless you. I am going to give all this territory to you and to your descendants. I will keep the promise I made to your father Abraham.
4 I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and will give them all these lands, and your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth;
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I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, and I will give them all this territory. All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants.
5 Because Abraham gave ear to my voice and kept my words, my rules, my orders, and my laws.
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I will bless you, because Abraham obeyed me and kept all my laws and commands."
6 So Isaac went on living in Gerar;
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So Isaac lived at Gerar.
7 And when he was questioned by the men of the place about his wife, he said, She is my sister; fearing to say, She is my wife; for, he said, the men of the place may put me to death on account of Rebekah; because she is very beautiful.
7
When the men there asked about his wife, he said that she was his sister. He would not admit that she was his wife, because he was afraid that the men there would kill him to get Rebecca, who was very beautiful.
8 And when he had been there for some time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looking through a window, saw Isaac playing with Rebekah his wife.
8
When Isaac had been there for some time, King Abimelech looked down from his window and saw Isaac and Rebecca making love.
9 And he said to Isaac, It is clear that she is your wife: why then did you say, She is my sister? And Isaac said, For fear that I might be put to death because of her.
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Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, "So she is your wife! Why did you say she was your sister?" He answered, "I thought I would be killed if I said she was my wife."
10 Then Abimelech said, What have you done to us? one of the people might well have had connection with your wife, and the sin would have been ours.
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"What have you done to us?" Abimelech said. "One of my men might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have been responsible for our guilt."
11 And Abimelech gave orders to his people that anyone touching Isaac or his wife was to be put to death.
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Abimelech warned all the people: "Anyone who mistreats this man or his wife will be put to death."
12 Now Isaac, planting seed in that land, got in the same year fruit a hundred times as much, for the blessing of the Lord was on him.
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Isaac sowed crops in that land, and that year he harvested a hundred times as much as he had sown, because the Lord blessed him.
13 And his wealth became very great, increasing more and more;
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He continued to prosper and became a very rich man.
14 For he had great wealth of flocks and herds and great numbers of servants; so that the Philistines were full of envy.
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Because he had many herds of sheep and cattle and many servants, the Philistines were jealous of him.
15 Now all the water-holes, which his father's servants had made in the days of Abraham, had been stopped up with earth by the Philistines.
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So they filled in all the wells which the servants of his father Abraham had dug while Abraham was alive.
16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go away from us, for you are stronger than we are.
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Then Abimelech said to Isaac, "Leave our country. You have become more powerful than we are."
17 So Isaac went away from there, and put up his tents in the valley of Gerar, making his living-place there.
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So Isaac left and set up his camp in Gerar Valley, where he stayed for some time.
18 And he made again the water-holes which had been made in the days of Abraham his father, and which had been stopped up by the Philistines; and he gave them the names which his father had given them.
18
He dug once again the wells which had been dug during the time of Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death. Isaac gave the wells the same names that his father had given them.
19 Now Isaac's servants made holes in the valley, and came to a spring of flowing water.
19
Isaac's servants dug a well in the valley and found water.
20 But the herdmen of Gerar had a fight with Isaac's herdmen, for they said, The spring is ours: so he gave the spring the name of Esek, because there was a fight about it.
20
The shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's shepherds and said, "This water belongs to us." So Isaac named the well "Quarrel."
21 Then they made another water-hole, and there was a fight about that, so he gave it the name of Sitnah.
21
Isaac's servants dug another well, and there was a quarrel about that one also, so he named it "Enmity."
22 Then he went away from there, and made another water-hole, about which there was no fighting: so he gave it the name of Rehoboth, for he said, Now the Lord has made room for us, and we will have fruit in this land.
22
He moved away from there and dug another well. There was no dispute about this one, so he named it "Freedom." He said, "Now the Lord has given us freedom to live in the land, and we will be prosperous here."
23 And from there he went on to Beer-sheba.
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Isaac left and went to Beersheba.
24 That night the Lord came to him in a vision, and said, I am the God of your father Abraham: have no fear for I am with you, blessing you, and your seed will be increased because of my servant Abraham.
24
That night the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid; I am with you. I will bless you and give you many descendants because of my promise to my servant Abraham."
25 Then he made an altar there, and gave worship to the name of the Lord, and he put up his tents there, and there his servants made a water-hole.
25
Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. Then he set up his camp there, and his servants dug another well.
26 And Abimelech had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his friend and Phicol, the captain of his army.
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Abimelech came from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army to see Isaac.
27 And Isaac said to them, Why have you come to me, seeing that in your hate for me you sent me away from you?
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So Isaac asked, "Why have you now come to see me, when you were so unfriendly to me before and made me leave your country?"
28 And they said, We saw clearly that the Lord was with you: so we said, Let there be an oath between us and you, and let us make an agreement with you;
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They answered, "Now we know that the Lord is with you, and we think that there should be a solemn agreement between us. We want you to promise
29 That you will do us no damage, even as we put no hand on you, and did you nothing but good, and sent you away in peace: and now the blessing of the Lord is on you.
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that you will not harm us, just as we did not harm you. We were kind to you and let you go peacefully. Now it is clear that the Lord has blessed you."
30 Then he made a feast for them, and they all had food and drink.
30
Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank.
31 And early in the morning they took an oath one to the other: then Isaac sent them away and they went on their way in peace.
31
Early next morning each man made his promise and sealed it with a vow. Isaac said good-bye to them, and they parted as friends.
32 And that day Isaac's servants came to him and gave him word of the water-hole which they had made, and said to him, We have come to water.
32
On that day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug. They said, "We have found water."
33 And he gave it the name of Shibah: so the name of that town is Beer-sheba to this day.
33
He named the well "Vow." That is how the city of Beersheba got its name.
34 And when Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
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When Esau was forty years old, he married two Hittites, Judith the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath the daughter of Elon.
35 And Isaac and Rebekah had grief of mind because of them.
35
They made life miserable for Isaac and Rebecca.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.