The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 There was a famine in the land, as bad as the famine during the time of Abraham. And Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar.
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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 God appeared to him and said, "Don't go down to Egypt; stay 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 here in this land and I'll be with you and bless you. I'm giving you and your children all these lands, fulfilling the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.
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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'll make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky and give them all these lands. All the nations of the Earth will get a blessing for themselves through your descendants.
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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 And why? Because Abraham obeyed my summons and kept my charge - my commands, my guidelines, 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 Isaac stayed put in Gerar.
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And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:
7 The men of the place questioned him about his wife. He said, "She's my sister." He was afraid to say "She's my wife." He was thinking, "These men might kill me to get Rebekah, she's so beautiful."
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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 One day, after they had been there quite a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah.
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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 Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, "So, she's your wife. Why did you tell us 'She's my sister'?" Isaac said, "Because I thought I might get killed by someone who wanted 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 Abimelech said, "But think of what you might have done to us! Given a little more time, one of the men might have slept with your wife; you would have been responsible for bringing guilt down 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 Abimelech gave orders to his people: "Anyone who so much as lays a hand on this man or his wife dies."
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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 Isaac planted crops in that land and took in a huge harvest. God 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 got richer and richer by the day until he was very wealthy.
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And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:
14 He accumulated flocks and herds and many, many servants, so much so that the Philistines began to envy 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 They got back at him by throwing dirt and debris into all the wells that his father's servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham, clogging up all the wells.
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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 Finally, Abimelech told Isaac: "Leave. You've become far too big for us."
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And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.
17 So Isaac left. He camped in the valley of Gerar and settled down there.
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And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
18 Isaac dug again the wells which were dug in the days of his father Abraham but had been clogged up by the Philistines after Abraham's death. And he renamed them, using the original names his father had given 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 One day, as Isaac's servants were digging in the valley, they came on a well of spring water.
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And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
20 The shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's shepherds, claiming, "This water is ours." So Isaac named the well Esek (Quarrel) because they quarreled over it.
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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 there was a difference over that one also, so he named it Sitnah (Accusation).
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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 on from there and dug yet another well. But there was no fighting over this one so he named it Rehoboth (Wide-Open Spaces), saying, "Now God has given us plenty of space to spread out 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 he went up to Beersheba.
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And he went up from thence to Beersheba.
24 That very night God appeared to him and said, I am the God of Abraham your father; don't fear a thing because I'm with you. I'll bless you and make your children flourish because of Abraham my servant.
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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 Isaac built an altar there and prayed, calling on God by name. He pitched his tent and his servants started digging another 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 Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his advisor and Phicol the head of his troops.
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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 Isaac asked them, "Why did you come to me? You hate me; you threw me out of your country."
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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 said, "We've realized that God is on your side. We'd like to make a deal between us - a covenant
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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 we maintain friendly relations. We haven't bothered you in the past; we treated you kindly and let you leave us in peace. So - God's blessing be with you!"
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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 Isaac laid out a feast and they ate and drank together.
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And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.
31 Early in the morning they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac said good-bye and they parted as friends.
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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 Later that same day, Isaac's servants came to him with news about the well they had been digging, "We've struck 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 Isaac named the well Sheba (Oath), and that's the name of the city, Beersheba (Oath-Well), 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 Esau was forty years old he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite.
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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 They turned out to be thorns in the sides of Isaac and Rebekah.
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Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The King James Version is in the public domain.