Genesis 26

Isaac Lies to Abimelech

1Once there was a time of hunger in the land. This was besides the time of hunger that happened during Abraham’s life. So Isaac went to the town of Gerar. He went to see Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Don’t go down to Egypt. Live in the land where I tell you to live. 3Stay in this land, and I will be with you. I will bless you. I will give you and your descendants all these lands. I will keep the agreement I made to Abraham your father. 4I will give you many descendants. They will be as hard to count as the stars in the sky. And I will give them all these lands. Through your descendants all the nations on the earth will be blessed. 5I will do this because your father Abraham obeyed me. He did what I said. He obeyed my commands, my teachings and my rules.”

6So Isaac stayed in Gerar. 7Isaac’s wife Rebekah was very beautiful. The men of that place asked Isaac about her. Isaac said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to tell them she was his wife. He thought they might kill him so they could have her.

8Isaac lived there a long time. One day as Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out his window, he saw Isaac. Isaac was holding his wife Rebekah tenderly. 9Abimelech called for Isaac and said, “This woman is your wife. Why did you say she was your sister?”

Isaac said to him, “I was afraid you would kill me so you could have her.”

10Abimelech said, “What have you done to us? One of our men might have had physical relations with your wife. Then we would have been guilty of a great sin.”

11So Abimelech warned everyone. He said, “Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be put to death.”

Isaac Becomes Rich

12Isaac planted seed in that land. And that year he gathered a great harvest. The Lord blessed him very much. 13Isaac became rich. He gathered more wealth until he became a very rich man. 14He had many slaves and many flocks and herds. The Philistines envied him. 15So they stopped up all the wells the servants of Isaac’s father Abraham had dug. (They had dug them when Abraham was alive.) The Philistines filled those wells with dirt. 16And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave our country. You have become much more powerful than we are.”

17So Isaac left that place. He camped in the Valley of Gerar and lived there. 18Long before this time Abraham had dug many wells. After Abraham died, the Philistines filled them with dirt. So Isaac dug those wells again. He gave them the same names his father had given them. 19Isaac’s servants dug a well in the valley. From it a spring of water flowed. 20But the men who herded sheep in Gerar argued with Isaac’s servants. They said, “This water is ours.” So Isaac named that well Argue because they argued with him. 21Then Isaac’s servants dug another well. The people also argued about it. So Isaac named that well Fight. 22Isaac moved from there and dug another well. No one argued about this one. So he named that well Room Enough. Isaac said, “Now the Lord has made room for us. We will be successful in this land.”

23From there Isaac went to Beersheba. 24The Lord appeared to Isaac that night. The Lord said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Don’t be afraid because I am with you. I will bless you and give you many descendants. I will do this because of my servant Abraham.” 25So Isaac built an altar and worshiped the Lord there. He made a camp there, and his servants dug a well.

26Abimelech came from Gerar to see Isaac. Abimelech brought with him Ahuzzath, who advised him, and Phicol, the commander of his army. 27Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to see me? You were my enemy. You forced me to leave your country.”

28They answered, “Now we know that the Lord is with you. We will make a promise to you. And we would like you to make one to us. We would like to make an agreement with you. 29We did not hurt you. So promise you will not hurt us. And we were good to you, and we sent you away in peace. Now the Lord has blessed you.”

30So Isaac prepared food for them, and they all ate and drank. 31Early the next morning the men made a promise to each other. Then Isaac sent them away, and they left in peace.

32That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We found water in that well.” 33So Isaac named it Shibah# This name sounds like the Hebrew words for “seven” and “promise.” and that city is still called Beersheba even now.

34When Esau was 40 years old, he married two Hittite women. One was Judith daughter of Beeri. The other was Basemath daughter of Elon. 35These women brought much sorrow to Isaac and Rebekah.

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Genesis 26

God’s Promise to Isaac

1Now there was a famine in the land, besides #ch. 12:10 the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to #ch. 20:2 Abimelech king of the #ch. 21:34Philistines. 2And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell #ch. 12:1in the land of which I shall tell you. 3#ch. 20:1; Heb. 11:9 Sojourn in this land, and #ch. 28:15 I will be with you and will bless you, for #See ch. 13:15 to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish #[Mic. 7:20]; See ch. 22:16-18the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4#Cited Ex. 32:13; See ch. 15:5 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And #See ch. 12:3in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5because #ch. 22:18Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

Isaac and Abimelech

6So Isaac settled in Gerar. 7When the men of the place asked him about his wife, #ch. 12:13; 20:2, 13 he said, “She is my sister,” for #[Prov. 29:25] he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because #ch. 24:16she was attractive in appearance. 8When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with#26:8 Hebrew may suggest an intimate relationship Rebekah his wife. 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.’” 10Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and #ch. 20:9you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

12And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord #ver. 3; ch. 24:1, 35blessed him, 13and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines #[Eccles. 4:4]envied him. 15(Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells #ch. 21:30that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) 16And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

17So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 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 #ch. 21:31he gave them the names that his father had given them. 19But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, 20the herdsmen of Gerar #ch. 21:25quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek,#26:20 Esek means contention because they contended with him. 21Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.#26:21 Sitnah means enmity 22And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth,#26:22 Rehoboth means broad places, or room saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

23From there he went up to Beersheba. 24And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, #ch. 17:7; 24:12; 28:13; Ex. 3:6 “I am the God of Abraham your father. #ch. 15:1; See Ps. 27:1-3 Fear not, for #ch. 28:15; 31:3; [ch. 21:22, 23]I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” 25So he #ch. 12:7; 13:18built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

26When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and #ch. 21:22Phicol the commander of his army, 27Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and #ver. 16have 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, 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. #ch. 24:31You are now the blessed of the Lord.” 30So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31In the morning they rose early and #ch. 21:31exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. 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.” 33He called it Shibah;#26:33 Shibah sounds like the Hebrew for oath therefore the name of the city is #ch. 21:31; 22:19Beersheba to this day.

34When Esau was forty years old, he took #[ch. 28:9; 36:2, 3]Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, 35and #ch. 27:46they made life bitter#26:35 Hebrew they were bitterness of spirit for Isaac and Rebekah.

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