B'resheet (Gen) 26
26
1A famine came over the land, not the same as the first famine, which had taken place when Avraham was alive. Yitz’chak went to G’rar, to Avimelekh king of the P’lishtim. 2Adonai appeared to him and said, “Don’t go down into Egypt, but live where I tell you. 3Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, because I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants. I will fulfill the oath which I swore to Avraham your father — 4I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, I will give all these lands to your descendants, and by your descendants all the nations of the earth will bless themselves. 5All this is because Avraham heeded what I said and did what I told him to do — he followed my mitzvot, my regulations and my teachings.”
(ii) 6So Yitz’chak settled in G’rar. 7The men of the place asked him about his wife, and out of fear he said, “She is my sister.” He thought, “If I tell them she’s my wife, they might kill me in order to take Rivkah. After all, she is a beautiful woman.” 8But one day, after he had lived there a long time, Avimelekh king of the P’lishtim happened to be looking out of a window when he spotted Yitz’chak caressing Rivkah his wife. 9Avimelekh summoned Yitz’chak and said, “So she is your wife, after all! How come you said, ‘She is my sister’?” Yitz’chak responded, “Because I thought, ‘I could get killed because of her.’” 10Avimelekh said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!” 11Then Avimelekh warned all the people: “Whoever touches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death.”
12Yitz’chak planted crops in that land and reaped that year a hundred times as much as he had sowed. Adonai had blessed him.
(iii) 13The man became rich and prospered more and more, until he had become very wealthy indeed. 14He had flocks, cattle and a large household; and the P’lishtim envied him. 15Now the P’lishtim had stopped up and filled with dirt all the wells his father’s servants had dug during the lifetime of Avraham his father. 16Avimelekh said to Yitz’chak, “You must go away from us, because you have become much more powerful than we are.” 17So Yitz’chak left, set up camp in Vadi G’rar and lived there. 18Yitz’chak reopened the wells which had been dug during the lifetime of Avraham his father, the ones the P’lishtim had stopped up after Avraham died, and called them by the names his father had used for them. 19Yitz’chak’s servants dug in the vadi and uncovered a spring of running water. 20But the herdsmen of G’rar quarreled with Yitz’chak’s herdsmen, claiming, “That water is ours!” So he called the well ‘Esek [quarrel], because they quarreled with him. 21They dug another well and quarreled over that one too. So he called it Sitnah [enmity]. 22He went away from there and dug another well, and over that one they didn’t quarrel. So he called it Rechovot [wide open spaces] and said, “Because now Adonai has made room for us, and we will be productive in the land.”
(iv) 23From there Yitz’chak went up to Be’er-Sheva. 24Adonai appeared to him that same night and said, “I am the God of Avraham your father. Don’t be afraid, because I am with you; I will bless you and increase your descendants for the sake of my servant Avraham.” 25There he built an altar and called on the name of Adonai. He pitched his tent there, and there Yitz’chak’s servants dug a well.
26Then Avimelekh went to him from G’rar with his friend Achuzat and Pikhol the commander of his army. 27Yitz’chak said to them, “Why have you come to me, even though you were unfriendly to me and sent me away?” 28They answered, “We saw very clearly that Adonai has been with you; so we said, ‘Let there be an oath between us: let’s make a pact between ourselves and you 29that you will not harm us, just as we have not caused you offense but have done you nothing but good and sent you on your way in peace. Now you are blessed by Adonai.’”
(v) 30Yitz’chak prepared a banquet for them, and they ate and drank. 31The next morning, they got up early and swore to each other. Then Yitz’chak sent them on their way, and they left him peacefully. 32That very day Yitz’chak’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug, “We have found water.” 33So he called it Shiv‘ah [oath, seven], and for this reason the name of the city is Be’er-Sheva [well of seven, well of an oath] to this day.
34When ‘Esav was forty years old, he took as wives Y’hudit the daughter of Be’eri the Hitti and Basmat the daughter of Elon the Hitti. 35But they became a cause for embitterment of spirit to Yitz’chak and Rivkah.
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B'resheet (Gen) 26: CJB
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Learn More About Complete Jewish BibleGenesis 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.
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