Genesis 26

1¶ And there was a famine in the land, in addition to the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech, king of the Philistines, unto Gerar.

2And the Lord appeared unto him and said, Do not go down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of;

3abide in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these lands, and I will confirm the oath which I swore unto Abraham thy father;

4and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven and will give unto thy seed all these lands, and in thy seed shall all the Gentiles of the earth be blessed

5because Abraham hearkened unto my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

6¶ Therefore Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

7And the men of that place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister, for he feared to say, She is my wife, lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah because she was fair to look upon.

8And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time that Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looking out a window, saw Isaac sporting with Rebekah, his wife.

9And Abimelech called Isaac and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife; and how didst thou say, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die because of her.

10And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? One of the people might easily have slept with thy wife, and thou should have brought the sin upon us.

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

12¶ Then Isaac sowed in that land and received in the same year one hundred-fold, and the Lord blessed him.

13And the man waxed great and went forward and grew until he became very great,

14for he had possession of flocks, possession of herds, great store of servants, and the Philistines envied him.

15For all the wells which his father’s slaves had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them and filled them with earth.

16And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us, for thou art become much mightier than we.

17And Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar and dwelt there.

18And Isaac reopened the wells of water, which they had opened in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham, and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

19And Isaac’s slaves dug in the valley and found there a well of living waters.

20And the pastors of Gerar strove with Isaac’s pastors, saying, The water is ours; therefore he called the name of the well Esek, because they strove with him.

21And they opened another well and strove for that one also; and he called the name of it Sitnah.

22And he left there and opened another well; and for that one they did not strive and he called the name of it Rehoboth, and he said, For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

23And he went up from there unto Beersheba.

24And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father; fear not, for I am with thee and will bless thee and multiply thy seed for my slave Abraham’s sake.

25And he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s slaves opened a well.

26¶ Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar and Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol, the chief captain of his army.

27And Isaac said unto them, Why come ye to me, seeing ye hate me and have sent me away from you?

28And they said, We have seen certainly that the Lord is with thee; and we said, Let there be now an oath between us, even between us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee,

29that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee and as we have done unto thee nothing but good and have sent thee away in peace; thou art now the blessed of the Lord.

30And he made them a banquet, and they ate and drank.

31And they rose up early in the morning and swore one to another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

32And it came to pass the same day that Isaac’s slaves came and told him concerning the well which they had opened and said unto him, We have found water.

33And he called it Shebah, therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.

34¶ And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri, the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon, the Hittite:

35Who were bitterness of spirit unto Isaac and to Rebekah.

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Genesis 26: JUB

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Genesis 26

God made the same promise to Isaac that he made to Abraham

1At another time, there was no rain and no food plants growing in the country where Isaac and Rebekah lived. It was like the time when there was no rain a long time before, while Abraham was still alive.

So Isaac and his family left that country, and they went to the town called Gerar, in Philistia country. The big boss of the Philistia people was called Abimelek, and he lived in that town.

2God showed himself to Isaac in that place, and God said, “Don’t go to Egypt country to try to get food. I’m going to tell you where you have to live. 3-4I’m telling you to camp here, in this country. You don’t need to worry. I will be with you, to take care of you. I will keep on being good to you. Remember that strong promise that I made to your father Abraham. Now I’m making the same promise to you. I will give you a really big family. You see, lots of kids and grand-kids will be born into your family later on, and they will become a really big mob of people. There will be lots and lots of them, just like there are lots of stars in the sky. And I will give them all of this country, and I will use them to do good things for all the nations in the world.#Genesis 12:2-3, 7; 15:5; 22:16-18; Acts 3:25 5You know, your father Abraham listened to me and did what I told him to do. That’s why I’m making that same promise to you that I made to him.”

6So Isaac set up his camp in Gerar, just like God told him to.

Isaac tried to trick the men in Gerar

7The men in Gerar saw Isaac’s wife Rebekah, and they asked Isaac, “Who is that woman?”#Genesis 12:13; 20:2

You know, Rebekah was very beautiful. So Isaac got worried about those men. He thought, “Maybe those men want to marry Rebekah. If I tell them that she is my wife, maybe they will kill me to get her.”

So Isaac lied and said, “She is my sister.”

8After that, Isaac and Rebekah lived in Gerar for a long time. But one day Abimelek, the big boss of the Philistia people, he looked out of his window, and he saw Isaac hugging Rebekah. Then Abimelek knew that Rebekah was Isaac’s wife. 9So Abimelek sent somebody to get Isaac. Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Now I know that Rebekah is your wife. Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac said, “I was too frightened to say, ‘She is my wife.’ I thought that the men in Gerar will kill me and take Rebekah for themselves. So I said, ‘She is my sister.’ ”

10Then Abimelek was angry. He said to Isaac, “That was a bad thing that you did to us. You didn’t tell us that Rebekah is your wife. We thought that she is not married. What if one of my men slept with her, like men sleep with their wives? Think about that. Then me and all my people, we would be guilty of that bad thing.”

11After that, Abimelek talked strongly to all the people in Gerar. He said, “If any one of you hurts Isaac or Rebekah, I will kill you.”

God was good to Isaac

12While Isaac lived in Gerar, he planted seeds in the ground. And God was really good to Isaac. That same year, those seeds grew into really good food plants, so Isaac had lots and lots of food. 13And Isaac got more and more money and good things, and he became very rich. 14He had lots of sheep and cows, and lots of people that worked for him.

The Philistia people that lived in Gerar, they saw that Isaac was very rich, and they got jealous of him. 15So they got dirt and filled up the water-holes that Isaac was using. A long time before that, Isaac’s father Abraham got his workers to dig those water-holes.

Isaac dug some water-holes

16Then Abimelek, the big boss of the Philistia people, he said to Isaac, “Listen, you and your mob are a lot stronger than us now, so I don’t want you to keep on living here. You have to leave this place.”

17So Isaac and his family left Gerar, and they moved their camp to a place called the Valley of Gerar, and they lived in that place for a long time.

18A long time before this, when Isaac’s father Abraham was alive, Abraham and his workers dug lots of water-holes in that place, and Abraham gave all those water-holes names. But then, after Abraham died, the Philistia people filled up all those water-holes with dirt, so nobody could get water from them. Now, when Isaac moved there, he got his workers to take the dirt out of those water-holes, so that everybody could get water again. And Isaac gave those water-holes the same names that Abraham gave them a long time before.

19One day, Isaac’s workers dug a new water-hole in the valley, and they found fresh running water in that hole. 20But there were some men there from Gerar, looking after their animals, and those men came and argued with the men that looked after Isaac’s animals. The men from Gerar said, “That water belongs to us.” So Isaac called that water-hole Esek. That name means they argue.

21After that, Isaac’s workers dug another water-hole, but the men from Gerar came and argued with them about that water-hole too. So Isaac called that water-hole Sitnah. That name means they are enemies.

22Then Isaac moved his camp to a new place, and his workers dug a water-hole in that place. This time, nobody argued with them about the water-hole. So Isaac called that water-hole Rehoboth. That name means big place. And Isaac said, “God has given us a big place to live. Our family will grow here, and our life will be good.”

God talked to Isaac at Beersheba

23Later on, Isaac moved his camp to the place called Beersheba.

24When Isaac got to Beersheba, that same night, God showed himself to Isaac. God said, “I am God. I am the one that looked after your father Abraham. Don’t be frightened. I am here with you, to take care of you. I will be good to you, and I will give you a really big family, just like I promised to your father Abraham.”

25Then Isaac wanted to show respect to God, so he piled up stones to make a table with a flat top. It was a special place for him to burn animals to show right respect to God. Then Isaac prayed to God, and he called God by his special name Yahweh.

After that, Isaac set up his camp, and he sent his workers to go and dig a water-hole.

Isaac and Abimelek made an agreement

26Abimelek, the big boss of the Philistia mob, he wanted to talk to Isaac again. So he left his home in Gerar, and he went to Isaac’s camp in Beersheba. He took 2 other men with him. One of those men was called Ahuzath, and he was Abimelek’s helper. The other man was called Ficol, and he was the leader of Abimelek’s army.

27When Isaac saw Abimelek and the 2 other men, he was shocked, and he said, “You told me to leave your country, so I know you hate me. So why did you come here to talk to me?”

28Then they said to Isaac, “We know that Yahweh your God is with you, and he helps you with everything you do. So we want you to make an agreement with us. 29We want you to promise that you will never hurt us or our people. Remember that time when you lived in our country. We never hurt you, and we always did good things for you. Even when we told you to leave our country, we didn’t make trouble for you. After that, your God kept on being good to you. That’s why we are asking you to promise that you will never hurt us.”

30Then Isaac agreed to make that promise, and he got lots of good food ready for Abimelek and the other 2 men. They all ate that food together, and then they stayed the night in that place. 31Early the next morning, they got up, and Isaac and Abimelek made strong promises to each other. They said, “I promise that I will never hurt you or your people.” So Isaac and Abimelek both felt happy and quiet inside themselves. Then Isaac said goodbye to Abimelek and the other 2 men, and they left to go back to their home country.

32Later that day, Isaac’s workers came to him, and they said, “We dug a water-hole, just like you said, and we found water.” 33Then Isaac called that water-hole Sheba. That name means promise. So people kept on calling the town near there Beersheba. That name means water-hole where they made a promise. They still use that town’s name today.

Esau married 2 women

34Isaac and Rebekah’s oldest son was called Esau. When Esau was 40 years old, he married 2 women. One of those women was called Judith. Her father was called Beeri, and he was from the Heth tribe. The other woman was called Basemath. Her father was called Elon, and he was from the Heth tribe too. 35Those 2 women gave Isaac and Rebekah a lot of trouble, and that made them very sad.

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