English Standard Version

International Standard Version

1Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines.

1Later on, a famine swept through the land. This famine was different from the previous famine that had occurred earlier, during Abraham's lifetime. So Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.

2And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.

2That's when the LORD appeared to Isaac. "You are not to go down to Egypt," he said. "Instead, you are to settle down in an area within this land where I'll tell you.

3Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.

3Remain in this land, and I'll be with and bless you by giving all these lands to you and to your descendants in fulfillment of my solemn promise that I made to your father Abraham.

4I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,

4I'll cause you to have as many descendants as the stars of the heavens, and I'll certainly give all these lands to your descendants. Later on, through your descendants all the nations of the earth will bless one another.

5because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

5I'm going to do this because Abraham did what I told him to do. He kept my instructions, commands, statutes, and laws."

6So Isaac settled in Gerar.

6So Isaac lived in Gerar.

7When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance.

7Later on, the men of that place asked about his wife, so he replied, "She's my sister," because he was afraid to call her "my wife." He kept thinking, "…otherwise, the men around here will kill me on account of Rebekah, since she's very beautiful."

8When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife.

8After he had been there awhile, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out through a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

9So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’”

9So Abimelech called Isaac and confronted him. "She is definitely your wife!" he accused him, "So why did you claim, 'She's my sister?'" Isaac responded, "Because I had thought '…otherwise, I'll die on account of her.'"

10Abimelech 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.”

10"What have you done to us?" Abimelech asked. "Any minute now, one of the people could have had sex with your wife and you would have caused all of us to be guilty."

11So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

11So he issued this order to everyone: "Whoever touches this man or his wife is to be executed."

12And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him,

12Isaac received a 100-fold return on what he planted that year in the land he received, because the LORD blessed him.

13and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.

13He became very wealthy and lived a life of wealth, becoming more and more wealthy.

14He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.

14He owned so many sheep, cattle, and servants that the Philistines eventually became envious of him.

15(Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.)

15They filled in with sand all of the wells that Isaac's father Abraham's servants had dug during his lifetime.

16And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

16Then Abimelech ordered Isaac, "Move away from us! You've become more powerful than we are."

17So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there.

17So Isaac moved from there and encamped in the Gerar Valley, where he settled.

18And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them.

18Isaac re-excavated some wells that his father had first dug during his lifetime, because the Philistines had filled them with sand after Abraham's death. Isaac renamed those wells with the same names that his father had called them.

19But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water,

19While Isaac's servants were digging in the valley, they discovered a well with flowing water.

20the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.

20But the herdsmen who lived in Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen. "The water is ours," they said. As a result, Isaac named the well Esek, for they had fiercely disputed with him about it.

21Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.

21When his workers started digging another well, those herdsmen quarreled about that one, too, so Isaac named it Sitnah.

22And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

22Then he left that area and dug still another well. Because they did not quarrel over that one, Isaac named it Rehoboth, because he used to say, "The LORD has enlarged the territory for us. We will prosper in the land."

23From there he went up to Beersheba.

23Later on, he left there and went to Beer-sheba,

24And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”

24where one night the LORD appeared to him. "I am the God of your father Abraham," he told him. "Don't be afraid, because I'm with you. I'm going to bless you and multiply your descendants on account of my servant Abraham."

25So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

25In response, Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD. He also pitched his tents there and his servants dug a well.

26When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army,

26Later, Abimelech traveled from Gerar to visit Isaac . He arrived with Ahuzzath, his staff advisor, and Phicol, the commanding officer of his army.

27Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?”

27"Why have you come to see me," Isaac asked them, "since you hate me so much that you sent me away from you?"

28They said, “We see plainly that the LORD has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,

28"We've seen that the LORD is with you," they responded, "so we're proposing an agreement between us—between us and you. Allow us to make a treaty with you

29that 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.”

29by which you'll agree not to do us any harm, just as we haven't harmed you, since we've done nothing but good for you after we sent you away in peace. As a result, you've been tremendously blessed by the LORD."

30So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.

30So Isaac held a festival for them, and they ate and drank.

31In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.

31They woke up early the next morning and made the treaty. After this, Isaac sent them off and they left on peaceful terms.

32That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.”

32That very same day, Isaac's servants arrived and reported to him about a well that they had just completed digging. "We've found water!" they said.

33He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

33So Isaac named the well Shebah, which is why the city is named Beer-sheba to this day.

34When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite,

34When Esau was 40 years old, he married Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

35and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

35This brought extreme grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

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