Genesis 26
26
Isaac and Abimelek
Ge 12:10–20; 20:1–18
1#Ge 12:10There was a famine in the land, in addition to the first famine that was during the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. 2#Ge 12:1; 12:7The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land of which I will tell you. 3#Ge 13:15; 28:15Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you; for I will give to you and all your descendants all these lands, and I will fulfill the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4#Ge 15:5; 22:17–18I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of the heavens and will give your descendants all these lands. By your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed,#Or will bless themselves. 5#Ge 22:16; 22:18because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” 6So Isaac lived in Gerar.
7#Ge 12:13; 20:2The men of the place asked him about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” thinking, “The men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful in appearance.”
8When he had been there a long time, Abimelek the king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah his wife. 9Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is surely your wife, so how is it you said, ‘She is my sister’?”
Then Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘I might die on account of her.’ ”
10Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might have easily lain with your wife, and you might have brought guilt upon us!”
11#Ps 105:15Abimelek charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
12#Ge 26:3; 24:1Then Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; the Lord blessed him. 13The man became rich and continued to prosper until he became very wealthy. 14#Ge 37:11; Ecc 4:4For he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great number of servants so that the Philistines envied him. 15#Ge 21:30For the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father by filling them with dirt.
16#Ex 1:9Abimelek said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much more powerful than we are.”
17So Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18#Ge 21:31Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names his father had called them.
19But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of running water there, 20#Ge 21:25the herdsmen of Gerar contended with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. 21They dug another well and quarreled over that also. So he called the name of it Sitnah. 22#Ge 17:6; Ex 1:7Then he moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called the name of it Rehoboth, for he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”
23He went up from there to Beersheba. 24#Ge 15:1; 17:7The Lord appeared to him that same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham.”
25#Ge 13:18; Ps 116:17He built an altar there, called on the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
26Then Abimelek went to him from Gerar, along with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phicol the commander of his army. 27#Ge 26:16; Jdg 11:7Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”
28#Ge 21:22–23And they said, “We saw plainly that the Lord was with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29#Ge 24:31; Ps 115:15so that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you, and have done you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.’ ”
30#Ge 19:3Then he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31They rose up early in the morning and swore an oath with one another. Isaac sent them away, 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.” 33#Ge 21:31And he called it Shibah. Therefore, the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
34#Ge 36:2Esau was forty years old when he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, 35and they brought grief to Isaac and to Rebekah.
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Genesis 26: MEV
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Military Bible Association
Genesis 26
26
1And when a famine came in the land, after that barrenness which had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech, King of the Palestines, to Gerara.
2And the Lord appeared to him and said: Go not down into Egypt, but stay in the land that I shall tell thee.
3And sojourn in it, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee: for to thee and to thy seed I will give all these countries, to fulfill the oath which I swore to Abraham thy father.
4And I will multiply thy seed like the stars of heaven: and I will give to thy posterity all these countries. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.
5Because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts and commandments, and observed my ceremonies and laws.
6So Isaac abode in Gerara.
7And when he was asked by the men of that place, concerning his wife, he answered: She is my sister. For he was afraid to confess that she was his wife, thinking lest perhaps they would like him because of her beauty.
8And when very many days were passed, and he abode there, Abimelech king of the Palestines, looking out through a window, saw him playing with Rebecca his wife.
9And calling for him, he said: It is evident she is thy wife. Why didst thou feign her to be thy sister? He answered: I feared lest I should die for her sake.
10And Abimelech said: Why hadst thou deceived us? Some man of the people might have lain with thy wife, and thou hadst brought upon us a great sin. And he commanded all the people, saying:
11He that shall touch this man's wife shall surely be put to death.
12And Isaac sowed in that land, and he found that same year a hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.
13And the man was enriched, and he went on prospering and increasing, till he became exceeding great.
14And he had possessions of sheep and of herds, and a very great family. Wherefore the Palestines, envying him,
15Stopped up at that time all the wells, that the servants of his father Abraham had digged, filling them up with earth:
16Insomuch that Abimelech himself said to Isaac: Depart from us, for thou art become much mightier than we.
17So he departed, and came to the torrent of Gerara, to dwell there.
18And he digged again other wells, which the servants of his father Abraham had digged, and which, after his death, the Palestines had of old stopped up. And he called them by the same names by which his father before had called them.
19And they digged in the torrent, and found living water.
20But there also the herdsmen of Gerara strove against the herdsmen of Isaac, saying: It is our water. Wherefore he called the name of the well, on occasion of that which had happened, Calumny.
21And they digged also another; and for that they quarreled likewise, and he called the name of it, Enmity.
22Going forward from thence, he digged another well, for which they contended not: therefore he called the name thereof, Latitude, saying: Now hath the Lord given us room, and made us to increase upon the earth.
23And he went up from that place to Bersabee,
24Where the Lord appeared to him that same night, saying: I am the God of Abraham thy father. Do not fear, for I am with thee: I will bless thee, and multiply thy seed, for my servant Abraham's sake.
25And he built there an altar: and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent. And he commanded his servants to dig a well.
26To which place when Abimelech, and Ochozath his friend, and Phicol chief captain of his soldiers, came from Gerara,
27Isaac said to them: Why are ye come to me, a man whom you hate, and have thrust out from you?
28And they answered: We saw that the Lord is with thee, and therefore we said: Let there be an oath between us, and let us make a covenant,
29That thou do us no harm, as we on our part have touched nothing of thine, nor have done any thing to hurt thee: but with peace have sent thee away, increased with the blessing of the Lord.
30And he made them a feast, and after they had eaten and drunk:
31Arising in the morning, they swore one to another: and Isaac sent them away peaceably to their own home.
32And, behold, the same day the servants of Isaac came, telling him of a well which they had digged, and saying: We have found water.
33Whereupon he called it, Abundance: and the name of the city was called Bersabee, even to this day.
34And Esau being forty years old, married wives, Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hethite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon, of the same place.
35And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebecca.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.