International Standard Version

New American Standard Bible 1995

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.

1Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

4"I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;

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

5because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws."

6So Isaac lived in Gerar.

6So Isaac lived in Gerar.

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."

7When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "my wife," thinking, "the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is beautiful."

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

8It came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah.

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.'"

9Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Behold, certainly she is your wife! How then did you say, 'She is my sister '?" And Isaac said to him, "Because I said, 'I might die on account of her.'"

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."

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."

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

11So Abimelech charged all the people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."

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

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

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

13and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy;

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

14for he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.

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

15Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with earth.

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

16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are too powerful for us."

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

17And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar, and settled there.

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.

18Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which 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 same names which his father had given them.

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

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

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.

20the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, "The water is ours!" So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him.

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

21Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it Sitnah.

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."

22He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, "At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land."

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

23Then he went up from there to Beersheba.

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."

24The LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham; Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you, and multiply your descendants, For the sake of My servant Abraham."

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.

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.

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

26Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with his adviser Ahuzzath and Phicol the commander of his army.

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

27Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from 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

28They said, "We see plainly that the LORD has been with you; so we said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, even between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,

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."

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.'"

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

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

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

31In the morning they arose early and exchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace.

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.

32Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac's servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water."

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

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

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

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

35This brought extreme grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

35and they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

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