Genesis 26

The Promise Reaffirmed to Isaac

1There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. # Gn 12:10 And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. # Gn 20:2 2The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you about; 3stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. # Gn 12:2; 26:24; 28:15; 31:3 For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, # Gn 12:7; 13:15; 15:18 and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. # Gn 22:16-18; Ps 105:9 4I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed # Or will bless themselves by your offspring, # Gn 12:3; 18:18; Ac 3:25; Gl 3:8 5because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My mandate, My commands, My statutes, and My instructions.” # Lv 18:30; Dt 11:1 6So Isaac settled in Gerar.

Isaac’s Deception

7When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” # Gn 12:13; 20:5 for he was afraid to say “my wife,” thinking, # Pr 29:25 “The men of the place will kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is a beautiful woman.” # Gn 24:16 8When Isaac had been there for some time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see # Or and he looked and behold — Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

9Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’? ”

Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”

10Then Abimelech said, “What is this you’ve done to us? One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.” # Gn 20:8-10 11So Abimelech warned all the people with these words: “Whoever harms this man or his wife will certainly die.”

Conflicts over Wells

12Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped # Lit found a hundred times what was sown. The Lord blessed him, # Gn 24:1,35 13and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy. 14He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were envious of him. 15The Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father’s slaves had dug in the days of his father Abraham, # Gn 21:30 filling them with dirt. 16And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us, for you are much too powerful for us.” # Or are more numerous than we are

17So Isaac left there, camped in the Valley of Gerar, and lived there. 18Isaac reopened the water wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. He gave them the same names his father had given them. 19Then Isaac’s slaves dug in the valley and found a well of spring # Lit living water there. 20But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours! ” So he named the well Quarrel # Or Esek because they quarreled with him. # Gn 21:25 21Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also, so he named it Hostility. # Or Sitnah 22He moved from there and dug another, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Open Spaces # Or Rehoboth and said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

The Lord Appears to Isaac

23From there he went up to Beer-sheba, 24and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. # Gn 17:7-8; 24:12; Ex 3:6; Ac 7:32 Do not be afraid, for I am with you. # Gn 21:17; Ex 20:20; 2Kg 6:16; Is 41:10; 43:1,5 I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of My servant Abraham.”

25So he built an altar there, # Gn 8:20; 12:7; 13:18; 35:7; Ex 17:15; Jos 8:30 called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. Isaac’s slaves also dug a well there. # Gn 26:32

Covenant with Abimelech

26Now Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army. # Gn 21:22 27Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me? You hated me and sent me away from you.”

28They replied, “We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you. We think there should be an oath between two parties — between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you: 29You will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have only done what was good to you, sending you away in peace. You are now blessed by the Lord.” # Gn 24:31; Ps 115:15

30So he prepared a banquet for them, and they ate and drank. 31They got up early in the morning and swore an oath to each other.# Lit swore, each man to his brother # Gn 21:31 Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace. 32On that same day Isaac’s slaves came to tell him about the well they had dug, saying to him, “We have found water! ” # Gn 26:19 33He called it Sheba. # Or Shibah Therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba # = Well of the Oath # Gn 21:30-31 to this day.

Esau’s Wives

34When Esau was 40 years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. # Gn 28:9; 36:2-3 35They made life bitter # Lit And they became bitterness of spirit for Isaac and Rebekah. # Gn 27:46

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Berĕshith (Genesis) 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.

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