Genesis 26
26
1 Then, when a famine arose over the land, after that barrenness which had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Palestinians, in Gerar.
2 And the Lord appeared to him, and he said: "Do not descend into Egypt, but rest in the land that I will tell you,
3 and sojourn in it, and I will be with you, and I will bless you. For to you and to your offspring I will give all these regions, completing the oath that I promised to Abraham your father.
4 And I will multiply your offspring like the stars of heaven. And I will give to your posterity all these regions. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed,
5 because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts and commandments, and observed the ceremonies and the laws."
6 And so Isaac remained in Gerar.
7 And when he was questioned by the men of that place about his wife, he answered, "She is my sister." For he was afraid to confess her to be his mate, thinking that perhaps they would put him to death because of her beauty.
8 And when very many days had passed, and he had remained in the same place, Abimelech, king of the Palestinians, gazing through a window, saw him being playful with Rebekah, his wife.
9 And summoning him, he said: "It is clear that she is your wife. Why did you falsely claim her to be your sister?" He answered, "I was afraid, lest I might die because of her."
10 And Abimelech said: "Why have you burdened us? Someone from the people could have lain with your wife, and you would have brought a great sin upon us." And he instructed all the people, saying,
11 "Whoever will touch the wife of this man will die a death."
12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and he found, in that same year, one hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him.
13 And the man was enriched, and he continued prospering as well as increasing, until he became very great.
14 Likewise, he had possessions of sheep and of herds, and a very large family. Because of this, the Palestinians envied him,
15 so, at that time, they obstructed all the wells that the servants of his father Abraham had dug, filling them with soil.
16 It reached a point where Abimelech himself said to Isaac, "Move away from us, for you have become very much more powerful than we."
17 And departing, he then went toward the torrent of Gerar, and he dwelt there.
18 Again, he dug up other wells, which the servants of his father Abraham had dug, and which, after his death, the Philistines had formerly obstructed. And he called them by the same names that his father had called them before.
19 And they dug in the torrent, and they found living water.
20 But in that place also the shepherds of Gerar argued against the shepherds of Isaac, by saying, "It is our water." For this reason, he called the name of the well, because of what had happened, 'Calumny.'
21 Then they dug up yet another one. And over that one also they fought, and he called it, 'Enmity.'
22 Advancing from there, he dug another well, over which they did not contend. And so he called its name, 'Latitude,' saying, "Now the Lord has expanded us and caused us to increase across the land."
23 Then he ascended from that place into Beersheba,
24 where the Lord appeared to him on the same night, saying: "I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you, and I will multiply your offspring because of my servant Abraham."
25 And so he built an altar there. And he invoked the name of the Lord, and he stretched out his tent. And he instructed his servants to dig a well.
26 When Abimelech, and Ahuzzath, his friend, and Phicol, the leader of the military, had arrived from Gerar to that place,
27 Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, a man whom you hate, and whom you have expelled from among you?"
28 And they responded: "We saw that the Lord is with you, and therefore we said: Let there be an oath between us, and let us initiate a pact,
29 so that you may not do us any kind of harm, just as we have touched nothing of yours, and have not caused any injury to you, but with peace we released you, augmented by the blessing of the Lord."
30 Therefore, he made them a feast, and after the food and drink,
31 arising in the morning, they swore to one another. And Isaac sent them away peacefully to their own place.
32 Then, behold, on the same day the servants of Isaac came, reporting to him about a well which they had dug, and saying: "We have found water."
33 Therefore, he called it, 'Abundance.' And the name of the city was established as 'Beersheba,' even to the present day.
34 In truth, at forty years of age, Esau took wives: Judith, the daughter of Beeri, the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon, of the same place.
35 And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebekah.
Berĕshith (Genesis) 26
26
1And there was a scarcity of food in the land, besides the first scarcity of food which was in the days of Aḇraham. And Yitsḥaq went to Aḇimeleḵ, sovereign of the Philistines, in Gerar.
2And יהוה appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Mitsrayim, live in the land which I command you.
3“Sojourn in this land. And I shall be with you and bless you, for I give all these lands to you and your seed. And I shall establish the oath which I swore to Aḇraham your father.
4And I shall increase your seed like the stars of the heavens, and I shall give all these lands to your seed. And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,”
5because Aḇraham obeyed My voice and guarded My Charge: My commands, My laws, and My Torot.”#Torot - plural of Torah, teaching.
6And Yitsḥaq dwelt in Gerar.
7And when the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me for Riḇqah, because she is good-looking.”
8And it came to be, when he had been there a long time, that Aḇimeleḵ sovereign of the Philistines looked through a window, and he watched and saw Yitsḥaq playing with Riḇqah his wife.
9So Aḇimeleḵ called Yitsḥaq and said, “See, truly she is your wife! So how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” And Yitsḥaq said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ ”
10And Aḇimeleḵ said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people had almost lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.”
11And Aḇimeleḵ commanded all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall certainly be put to death.”
12And Yitsḥaq sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold, and יהוה blessed him.
13And the man grew great and went forward until he became very great.
14And he came to have possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great body of servants, and the Philistines envied him.
15And the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Aḇraham his father, and filled them with dirt.
16And Aḇimeleḵ said to Yitsḥaq, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
17So Yitsḥaq went from there and pitched his tent in the wadi Gerar, and dwelt there.
18And Yitsḥaq dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Aḇraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Aḇraham. And he called them by the names which his father had called them.
19But when Yitsḥaq’s servants dug in the wadi and found a well of running water there,
20the herdsmen of Gerar strove with Yitsḥaq’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” And he called the name of the well Ěseq, because they strove with him.
21And they dug another well, and they strove over that one too, and he called its name Sitnah.
22And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not strive over it. And he called its name Reḥoḇoth, and said, “For now יהוה has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
23And from there he went up to Be’ĕrsheḇa.
24And יהוה appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the Elohim of your father Aḇraham. Do not fear, for I am with you, and shall bless you and increase your seed for My servant Aḇraham’s sake.”
25And he built a slaughter-place there, and called on the Name of יהוה, and he pitched his tent there, and the servants of Yitsḥaq dug a well there.
26And Aḇimeleḵ came to him from Gerar, with Aḥuzzath, one of his friends, and Piḵol the commander of his army.
27And Yitsḥaq said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing you have hated me and have sent me away from you?”
28But they said, “We have clearly seen that יהוה is with you. And we said, ‘Please, let there be an oath between us, between you and us. And let us make a covenant with you,
29that you do no evil to us, as we have not touched you, and as we have done only good toward you, and have sent you away in peace. You are now blessed by יהוה.’ ”
30And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31And they rose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another. And Yitsḥaq let them go, and they departed from him in peace.
32And on the same day it came to be that the servants of Yitsḥaq came and informed him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.”
33So he called it Shiḇah. Therefore the name of the city is Be’ĕrsheḇa to this day.
34And when Ěsaw was forty years old, he took as wives Yehuḏith the daughter of Be’ĕri the Ḥittite, and Basemath the daughter of Ělon the Ḥittite.
35And they were a bitterness of spirit to Yitsḥaq and Riḇqah.
Copyright© 1993 – 2015 by the Institute for Scripture Research (ISR). All rights reserved.