The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
King James Version KJV
1 A famine came over the land, not the same as the first famine, which had taken place when Avraham was alive. Yitz'chak went to G'rar, to Avimelekh king of the P'lishtim.
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And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.
2 ADONAI appeared to him and said, "Don't go down into Egypt, but live where I tell you.
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And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:
3 Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, because I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants. I will fulfill the oath which I swore to Avraham your father -
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Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;
4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, I will give all these lands to your descendants, and by your descendants all the nations of the earth will bless themselves.
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And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
5 All this is because Avraham heeded what I said and did what I told him to do -he followed my mitzvot, my regulations and my teachings."
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Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
6 So Yitz'chak settled in G'rar.
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And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:
7 The men of the place asked him about his wife, and out of fear he said, "She is my sister." He thought, "If I tell them she's my wife, they might kill me in order to take Rivkah. After all, she is a beautiful woman."
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And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.
8 But one day, after he had lived there a long time, Avimelekh king of the P'lishtim happened to be looking out of a window when he spotted Yitz'chak caressing Rivkah his wife.
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And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.
9 Avimelekh summoned Yitz'chak and said, "So she is your wife, after all! How come you said, 'She is my sister'?" Yitz'chak responded, "Because I thought, 'I could get killed because of her.'"
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And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.
10 Avimelekh said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!"
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And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
11 Then Avimelekh warned all the people: "Whoever touches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death."
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And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.
12 Yitz'chak planted crops in that land and reaped that year a hundred times as much as he had sowed. ADONAI had blessed him.
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Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.
13 The man became rich and prospered more and more, until he had become very wealthy indeed.
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And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:
14 He had flocks, cattle and a large household; and the P'lishtim envied him.
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For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.
15 Now the P'lishtim had stopped up and filled with dirt all the wells his father's servants had dug during the lifetime of Avraham his father.
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For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.
16 Avimelekh said to Yitz'chak, "You must go away from us, because you have become much more powerful than we are."
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And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.
17 So Yitz'chak left, set up camp in Vadi G'rar and lived there.
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And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
18 Yitz'chak reopened the wells which had been dug during the lifetime of Avraham his father, the ones the P'lishtim had stopped up after Avraham died, and called them by the names his father had used for them.
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And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
19 Yitz'chak's servants dug in the vadi and uncovered a spring of running water.
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And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
20 But the herdsmen of G'rar quarreled with Yitz'chak's herdsmen, claiming, "That water is ours!" So he called the well 'Esek [quarrel], because they quarreled with him.
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And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.
21 They dug another well and quarreled over that one too. So he called it Sitnah [enmity].
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And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.
22 He went away from there and dug another well, and over that one they didn't quarrel. So he called it Rechovot [wide open spaces] and said, "Because now ADONAI has made room for us, and we will be productive in the land."
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And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
23 From there Yitz'chak went up to Be'er-Sheva.
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And he went up from thence to Beersheba.
24 ADONAI appeared to him that same night and said, "I am the God of Avraham your father. Don't be afraid, because I am with you; I will bless you and increase your descendants for the sake of my servant Avraham."
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And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.
25 There he built an altar and called on the name of ADONAI. He pitched his tent there, and there Yitz'chak's servants dug a well.
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And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.
26 Then Avimelekh went to him from G'rar with his friend Achuzat and Pikhol the commander of his army.
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Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.
27 Yitz'chak said to them, "Why have you come to me, even though you were unfriendly to me and sent me away?"
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And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?
28 They answered, "We saw very clearly that ADONAI has been with you; so we said, 'Let there be an oath between us: let's make a pact between ourselves and you
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And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;
29 that you will not harm us, just as we have not caused you offense but have done you nothing but good and sent you on your way in peace. Now you are blessed by ADONAI.'"
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That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the LORD.
30 Yitz'chak prepared a banquet for them, and they ate and drank.
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And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.
31 The next morning, they got up early and swore to each other. Then Yitz'chak sent them on their way, and they left him peacefully.
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And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
32 That very day Yitz'chak's servants came and told him about the well they had dug, "We have found water."
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And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water.
33 So he called it Shiv'ah [oath, seven], and for this reason the name of the city is Be'er-Sheva [well of seven, well of an oath] to this day.
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And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.
34 When 'Esav was forty years old, he took as wives Y'hudit the daughter of Be'eri the Hitti and Basmat the daughter of Elon the Hitti.
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And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
35 But they became a cause for embitterment of spirit to Yitz'chak and Rivkah.
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Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The King James Version is in the public domain.