Genesis 26
26
Isaac Lies to Abimelech
1Now there was a time of hunger in the land, besides the time of hunger that happened during Abraham’s life. So Isaac went to the town of Gerar to see Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Don’t go down to Egypt, but live in the land where I tell you to live. 3Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. I will give you and your descendants all these lands, and I will keep the oath I made to Abraham your father. 4I will give you many descendants, 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 and obeyed my commands, my teachings, and my rules.”
6So Isaac stayed in Gerar. 7His wife Rebekah was very beautiful, and the men of that place asked Isaac about her. Isaac said, “She is my sister,” because 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 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 sexual relations with your wife. Then we would have been guilty of a great sin.”
11So Abimelech warned everyone, “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, 13and he became rich. He gathered more wealth until he became a very rich man. 14He had so many slaves and flocks and herds that 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 because you have become much more powerful than we are.”
17So Isaac left that place and camped in the Valley of Gerar and lived there. 18Long before this time Abraham had dug many wells, but after he died, the Philistines filled them with dirt. So Isaac dug those wells again and gave them the same names his father had given them. 19Isaac’s servants dug a well in the valley, from which a spring of water flowed. 20But the herdsmen of Gerar argued with them and said, “This water is ours.” So Isaac named that well Argue because they argued with him. 21Then his servants dug another well. When the people also argued about it, Isaac named that well Fight. 22He moved from there and dug another well. No one argued about this one, so he named it Room Enough. Isaac said, “Now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be successful in this land.”
23From there Isaac went to Beersheba. 24The Lord appeared to him that night and 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 because of my servant Abraham.” 25So Isaac built an altar and worshiped the Lord there. He also made a camp there, and his servants dug a well.
26Abimelech came from Gerar to see Isaac. He 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 and forced me to leave your country.”
28They answered, “Now we know that the Lord is with you. Let us swear an oath to each other. Let us make an agreement with you 29that since we did not hurt you, you will not hurt us. We were good to you and 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 swore an oath 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, saying, “We found water in that well.” 33So Isaac named it Shibah and that city is called Beersheba even now.
34When Esau was forty years old, he married two Hittite women—Judith daughter of Beeri and Basemath daughter of Elon. 35These women brought much sorrow to Isaac and Rebekah.
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Genesis 26: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
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.
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