| NET Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar. | 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. |
| 2The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; settle down in the land that I will point out to 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. |
| 3Stay in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will fulfill the solemn promise I made to your father Abraham. | 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 descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. | 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. |
| 5All this will come to pass because Abraham obeyed me 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 that place asked him about his wife, he replied, "She is my sister." He was afraid to say, "She is my wife," for he thought to himself, "The men of this place will kill me to get Rebekah because she is very beautiful." | 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." |
| 8After Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. | 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 summoned Isaac and said, "She is really your wife! Why did you say, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac replied, "Because I thought someone might kill me to get 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.'" |
| 10Then Abimelech exclaimed, "What in the world have you done to us? One of the men might easily have had sexual relations with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on 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 commanded all the people, "Whoever touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death." | 11So he issued this order to everyone: "Whoever touches this man or his wife is to be executed." |
| 12When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, because 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. |
| 13The man became wealthy. His influence continued to grow until he became very prominent. | 13He became very wealthy and lived a life of wealth, becoming more and more wealthy. |
| 14He had so many sheep and cattle and such a great household of servants that the Philistines became jealous of him. | 14He owned so many sheep, cattle, and servants that the Philistines eventually became envious of him. |
| 15So the Philistines took dirt and filled up all the wells that his father's servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham. | 15They filled in with sand all of the wells that Isaac's father Abraham's servants had dug during his lifetime. |
| 16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, "Leave us and go elsewhere, for you have become much more powerful than we are." | 16Then Abimelech ordered Isaac, "Move away from us! You've become more powerful than we are." |
| 17So Isaac left there and settled in the Gerar Valley. | 17So Isaac moved from there and encamped in the Gerar Valley, where he settled. |
| 18Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after Abraham died. Isaac gave these wells the same names 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. |
| 19When Isaac's servants dug in the valley and discovered a well with fresh flowing water there, | 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 belongs to us!" So Isaac named the well Esek because they argued with him about it. | 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. |
| 21His servants dug another well, but they quarreled over it too, so Isaac named it Sitnah. | 21When his workers started digging another well, those herdsmen quarreled about that one, too, so Isaac named it Sitnah. |
| 22Then he moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so Isaac named it Rehoboth, saying, "For now the LORD has made room for us, and we will prosper 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 Isaac went up to Beer Sheba. | 23Later on, he left there and went to Beer-sheba, |
| 24The LORD appeared to him that night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham." | 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." |
| 25Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the LORD. He pitched his tent there, and his 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. |
| 26Now Abimelech had come to him from Gerar along with Ahuzzah his friend 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 asked them, "Why have you come to me? You hate me and 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 replied, "We could plainly see that the LORD is with you. So we decided there should be a pact between us--between us and you. Allow us to make a treaty 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 |
| 29so that you will not do us any harm, just as we have not harmed you, but have always treated you well before sending you away in peace. Now you are blessed by 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 Isaac held a feast for them and they celebrated. | 30So Isaac held a festival for them, and they ate and drank. |
| 31Early in the morning the men made a treaty with each other. Isaac sent them off; they separated on good terms. | 31They woke up early the next morning and made the treaty. After this, Isaac sent them off and they left on peaceful terms. |
| 32That day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well they had dug. "We've found water," they reported. | 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. |
| 33So he named it Shibah; that is why the name of the city has been Beer Sheba 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 married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, as well as 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. |
| 35They caused Isaac and Rebekah great anxiety. | 35This brought extreme grief to Isaac and Rebekah. |
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