New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to King Abimelech of the Philistines.
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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.
2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; settle in the land that I shall show you.
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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:
3 Reside in this land as an alien, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will fulfill the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.
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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;
4 I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and will give to your offspring all these lands; and all the nations of the earth shall gain blessing for themselves through your offspring,
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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;
5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
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Because Abraham gave ear to my voice and kept my words, my rules, my orders, and my laws.
6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.
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So Isaac went on living in Gerar;
7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister"; for he was afraid to say, "My wife," thinking, "or else the men of the place might kill me for the sake of Rebekah, because she is attractive in appearance."
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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.
8 When Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw him fondling his wife Rebekah.
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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.
9 So Abimelech called for Isaac, and said, "So she is your wife! Why then did you say, "She is my sister'?" Isaac said to him, "Because I thought I might die because of her."
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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.
10 Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us."
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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.
11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, "Whoever touches this man or his wife shall be put to death."
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And Abimelech gave orders to his people that anyone touching Isaac or his wife was to be put to death.
12 Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in the same year reaped a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him,
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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.
13 and the man became rich; he prospered more and more until he became very wealthy.
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And his wealth became very great, increasing more and more;
14 He had possessions of flocks and herds, and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.
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For he had great wealth of flocks and herds and great numbers of servants; so that the Philistines were full of envy.
15 (Now the Philistines had stopped up and filled with earth all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.)
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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.
16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us; you have become too powerful for us."
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And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go away from us, for you are stronger than we are.
17 So Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar and settled there.
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So Isaac went away from there, and put up his tents in the valley of Gerar, making his living-place there.
18 Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham; for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the names that his father had given them.
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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.
19 But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water,
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Now Isaac's servants made holes in the valley, and came to a spring of flowing water.
20 the herders of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herders, saying, "The water is ours." So he called the well Esek, because they contended with him.
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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.
21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also; so he called it Sitnah.
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Then they made another water-hole, and there was a fight about that, so he gave it the name of Sitnah.
22 He moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he called it Rehoboth, saying, "Now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."
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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.
23 From there he went up to Beer-sheba.
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And from there he went on to Beer-sheba.
24 And that very night the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham; do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you and make your offspring numerous for my servant Abraham's sake."
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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.
25 So he built an altar there, called on the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well.
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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.
26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.
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And Abimelech had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his friend and Phicol, the captain of his army.
27 Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?"
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And Isaac said to them, Why have you come to me, seeing that in your hate for me you sent me away from you?
28 They said, "We see plainly that the Lord has been with you; so we say, let there be an oath between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you
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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;
29 so that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord."
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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.
30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
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Then he made a feast for them, and they all had food and drink.
31 In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths; and Isaac set them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.
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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.
32 That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well that they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water!"
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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.
33 He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day.
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And he gave it the name of Shibah: so the name of that town is Beer-sheba to 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 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:
35 and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
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And Isaac and Rebekah had grief of mind because of them.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.