Genesis 26
26
1And there is a famine in the land, besides the first famine which was in the days of Abraham, and Isaac goeth unto Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.
2And Jehovah appeareth unto him, and saith, ‘Go not down towards Egypt, tabernacle in the land concerning which I speak unto thee,
3sojourn in this land, and I am with thee, and bless thee, for to thee and to thy seed I give all these lands, and I have established the oath which I have sworn to Abraham thy father;
4and I have multiplied thy seed as stars of the heavens, and I have given to thy seed all these lands; and blessed themselves in thy seed have all nations of the earth;
5because that Abraham hath hearkened to My voice, and keepeth My charge, My commands, My statutes, and My laws.’
6And Isaac dwelleth in Gerar;
7and men of the place ask him of his wife, and he saith, ‘She [is] my sister:’ for he hath been afraid to say, ‘My wife — lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, for she [is] of good appearance.’
8And it cometh to pass, when the days have been prolonged to him there, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looketh through the window, and seeth, and lo, Isaac is playing with Rebekah his wife.
9And Abimelech calleth for Isaac, and saith, ‘Lo, she [is] surely thy wife; and how hast thou said, She [is] my sister?’ and Isaac saith unto him, ‘Because I said, Lest I die for her.’
10And Abimelech saith, ‘What [is] this thou hast done to us? as a little thing one of the people had lain with thy wife, and thou hadst brought upon us guilt;’
11and Abimelech commandeth all the people, saying, ‘He who cometh against this man or against his wife, dying doth die.’
12And Isaac soweth in that land, and findeth in that year a hundredfold, and Jehovah blesseth him;
13and the man is great, and goeth on, going on and becoming great, till that he hath been very great,
14and he hath possession of a flock, and possession of a herd, and an abundant service; and the Philistines envy him,
15and all the wells which his father's servants digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines have stopped them, and fill them with dust.
16And Abimelech saith unto Isaac, ‘Go from us; for thou hast become much mightier than we;’
17and Isaac goeth from thence, and encampeth in the valley of Gerar, and dwelleth there;
18and Isaac turneth back, and diggeth the wells of water which they digged in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines do stop after the death of Abraham, and he calleth to them names according to the names which his father called them.
19And Isaac's servants dig in the valley, and find there a well of living water,
20and shepherds of Gerar strive with shepherds of Isaac, saying, ‘The water [is] ours;’ and he calleth the name of the well ‘Strife,’ because they have striven habitually with him;
21and they dig another well, and they strive also for it, and he calleth its name ‘Hatred.’
22And he removeth from thence, and diggeth another well, and they have not striven for it, and he calleth its name Enlargements, and saith, ‘For — now hath Jehovah given enlargement to us, and we have been fruitful in the land.’
23And he goeth up from thence [to] Beer-Sheba,
24and Jehovah appeareth unto him during that night, and saith, ‘I [am] the God of Abraham thy father, fear not, for I [am] with thee, and have blessed thee, and have multiplied thy seed, because of Abraham My servant;’
25and he buildeth there an altar, and preacheth in the name of Jehovah, and stretcheth out there his tent, and there Isaac's servants dig a well.
26And Abimelech hath gone unto him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phichol head of his host;
27and Isaac saith unto them, ‘Wherefore have ye come unto me, and ye have hated me, and ye send me away from you?’
28And they say, ‘We have certainly seen that Jehovah hath been with thee, and we say, ‘Let there be, we pray thee, an oath between us, between us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;
29do not evil with us, as we have not touched thee, and as we have only done good with thee, and send thee away in peace; thou [art] now blessed of Jehovah.’
30And he maketh for them a banquet, and they eat and drink,
31and rise early in the morning, and swear one to another, and Isaac sendeth them away, and they go from him in peace.
32And it cometh to pass during that day that Isaac's servants come and declare to him concerning the circumstances of the well which they have digged, and say to him, ‘We have found water;’
33and he calleth it Shebah, [oath,] therefore the name of the city [is] Beer-Sheba, [well of the oath,] unto this day.
34And Esau is a son of forty years, and he taketh a wife, Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite,
35and they are a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.
maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
Genesis 26
26
Isaac and Abimelech
1Once during Abraham's lifetime, the fields had not produced enough grain, and now the same thing happened. So Isaac went to King Abimelech of the Philistines in the land of Gerar, 2because the LORD had appeared to Isaac and said:
Isaac, stay away from Egypt! I will show you where I want you to go. 3You will live there as a foreigner, but I will be with you and bless you. I will keep my promise to your father Abraham by giving this land to you and your descendants.#Gn 22.16-18.
4I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land. They will be a blessing to every nation on earth,#26.4 They…on earth: Or “All nations on earth will ask me to bless them.” 5because Abraham did everything I told him to do.
6Isaac moved to Gerar 7with his beautiful wife Rebekah. He was afraid that someone might kill him to get her, and so he told everyone that Rebekah was his sister.#Gn 12.13; 20.2. 8After Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech looked out of a window and saw Isaac hugging and kissing Rebekah. 9Abimelech called him in and said, “Rebekah must be your wife! Why did you say she is your sister?”
“Because I thought someone would kill me,” Isaac answered.
10“Don't you know what you've done?” Abimelech exclaimed. “If someone had slept with her, you would have made our whole nation guilty!” 11Then Abimelech warned his people that anyone who even touched Isaac or Rebekah would be put to death.
12Isaac planted grain and had a good harvest that same year. The LORD blessed him, 13and Isaac was so successful that he became very rich. 14In fact, the Philistines were jealous of the large number of sheep, goats, and slaves that Isaac owned, 15and they stopped up the wells that Abraham's servants had dug before his death. 16Finally, Abimelech said, “Isaac, I want you to leave our country. You have become too powerful to stay here.”
17Isaac left and settled in Gerar Valley, 18where he cleaned out those wells that the Philistines had stopped up. Isaac also gave each of the wells the same name#26.18 gave…same name: By doing this Isaac claimed ownership of the wells. that Abraham had given to them. 19While his servants were digging in the valley, they found a spring-fed well. 20But the shepherds of Gerar Valley quarrelled with Isaac's shepherds and claimed the water belonged to them. So the well was named “Quarrel”, because they had quarrelled with Isaac.
21Isaac's servants dug another well, and the shepherds also quarrelled about it. So that well was named “Jealous”. 22Finally, they dug one more well. There was no quarrelling this time, and the well was named “Lots of Room”, because the LORD had given them room and would make them very successful.
23Isaac went on to Beersheba, 24where the LORD appeared to him that night and told him, “Don't be afraid! I am the God who was worshipped by your father Abraham, my servant. I will be with you and bless you, and because of Abraham I will give you many descendants.” 25Isaac built an altar there and worshipped the LORD. Then he set up camp, and his servants started digging a well.
26Meanwhile, Abimelech had left Gerar and was taking his adviser Ahuzzath and his army commander Phicol to see Isaac.#Gn 21.22. 27When they arrived, Isaac asked, “Why are you here? Didn't you send me away because you hated me?”
28They answered, “We now know for certain that the LORD is with you, and we have decided there needs to be a peace treaty between you and us. So let's make a solemn agreement 29not to harm each other. Remember, we have never hurt you, and when we sent you away, we let you go in peace. The LORD has truly blessed you.”
30Isaac gave a big feast for them, and everyone ate and drank. 31Early the next morning Isaac and the others made a solemn agreement, then he let them go in peace.
32Later that same day Isaac's servants came and said, “We've struck water!” 33So Isaac named the well Shibah,#26.33 Shibah: In Hebrew “Shibah” sounds something like “good luck” and “promise”. and the town is still called Beersheba.#26.33 Beersheba: Meaning “Well of Good Fortune” or “Peace Treaty Well”.
Esau's foreign wives
34When Esau was forty, he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35But these two women brought a lot of grief to his parents Isaac and Rebekah.
© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012