Genesis 26

Isaac Settles in Gerar

1 Now 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. 2 And the Lord appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Live for a time in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your *26:3 Lit seeddescendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will multiply your *26:4 Lit seeddescendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your *26:4 Lit seeddescendants all these lands; and by your *26:4 Lit seeddescendants all the nations of the earth *26:4 Or bless themselvesshall be blessed, 5 because Abraham *26:5 Lit listened diligently to My voiceobeyed Me and fulfilled his duty to Me, and kept My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."

6 So Isaac lived in Gerar. 7 When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "my wife," thinking, "*26:7 Lit lest...placethe men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is beautiful." 8 Now it came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down through a window, and saw them, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Behold, she certainly is your wife! So how is it that you said, ‘She is my sister’?" And Isaac said to him, "Because I thought, ‘otherwise I might be killed on account of her.’ " 10 And Abimelech said, "What is this that you have done to us? One of the people might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us." 11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death."

12 Now Isaac sowed in that land and *26:12 Lit foundreaped in the same year a hundred times as much. And the Lord blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and continued to grow *26:13 Lit greatricher until he became very *26:13 Lit greatwealthy; 14 for he had possessions of flocks *26:14 Lit and possessions of herdsand herds, and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. 15 Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up *26:15 Lit and filled themby filling them with dirt. 16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are *26:16 Lit much mightier than wetoo powerful for us." 17 So Isaac departed from there and camped in the Valley of Gerar, and *26:17 Lit dweltsettled there.

Argument over the Wells

18 Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which *26:18 Lit they had dughad been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he *26:18 Lit called their names as the namesgave them the same names which his father had *26:18 Lit calledgiven them. 19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of *26:19 Lit livingflowing water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, "The water is ours!" So he named the well *26:20 I.e., argumentEsek, because they argued with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it *26:21 I.e., accusationSitnah. 22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it *26:22 I.e., broad placesRehoboth, for he said, "*26:22 Lit Truly nowAt last the Lord has made *26:22 Or broadroom for us, and we will be fruitful in the land."

23 And he went up from there to Beersheba. 24 And the 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 *26:24 Lit seeddescendants,

For the sake of My servant Abraham."

25 So 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.

Covenant with Abimelech

26 Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar *26:26 Lit and his confidential friendwith his adviser Ahuzzath, and Phicol the commander of his army. 27 Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?" 28 They said, "We have seen plainly that the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘An oath must now be taken*26:28 Lit between usby us,’ that is,*26:28 Lit between us and youby you and us. So let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you *26:29 Lit and just as weand have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord." 30 Then he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they got up early and *26:31 Lit swore one to anotherexchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away, and they left him in peace. 32 Now 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." 33 So he called it *26:33 Meaning uncertain, perhaps oathShibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

34 When Esau was forty years old he *26:34 Lit took as wifemarried Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; 35 and they *26:35 Lit were a bitterness of spirit tobrought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.