Genesis 26
26
Isaac Lies to Abimelech
1Once there was a time of hunger in the land. This was besides the time of hunger that happened during Abraham’s life. So Isaac went to the town of Gerar. He went to see Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Don’t go down to Egypt. Live in the land where I tell you to live. 3Stay in this land, and I will be with you. I will bless you. I will give you and your descendants all these lands. I will keep the agreement I made to Abraham your father. 4I will give you many descendants. They will be 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. He obeyed my commands, my teachings and my rules.”
6So Isaac stayed in Gerar. 7Isaac’s wife Rebekah was very beautiful. The men of that place asked Isaac about her. Isaac said, “She is my sister.” 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. Isaac was 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 physical relations with your wife. Then we would have been guilty of a great sin.”
11So Abimelech warned everyone. He said, “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. 13Isaac became rich. He gathered more wealth until he became a very rich man. 14He had many slaves and many flocks and herds. 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. You have become much more powerful than we are.”
17So Isaac left that place. He camped in the Valley of Gerar and lived there. 18Long before this time Abraham had dug many wells. After Abraham died, the Philistines filled them with dirt. So Isaac dug those wells again. He gave them the same names his father had given them. 19Isaac’s servants dug a well in the valley. From it a spring of water flowed. 20But the men who herded sheep in Gerar argued with Isaac’s servants. They said, “This water is ours.” So Isaac named that well Argue because they argued with him. 21Then Isaac’s servants dug another well. The people also argued about it. So Isaac named that well Fight. 22Isaac moved from there and dug another well. No one argued about this one. So he named that well Room Enough. Isaac said, “Now the Lord has made room for us. We will be successful in this land.”
23From there Isaac went to Beersheba. 24The Lord appeared to Isaac that night. The Lord 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. I will do this because of my servant Abraham.” 25So Isaac built an altar and worshiped the Lord there. He made a camp there, and his servants dug a well.
26Abimelech came from Gerar to see Isaac. Abimelech 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. You forced me to leave your country.”
28They answered, “Now we know that the Lord is with you. We will make a promise to you. And we would like you to make one to us. We would like to make an agreement with you. 29We did not hurt you. So promise you will not hurt us. And we were good to you, and we 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 made a promise 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. They said, “We found water in that well.” 33So Isaac named it Shibah# This name sounds like the Hebrew words for “seven” and “promise.” and that city is still called Beersheba even now.
34When Esau was 40 years old, he married two Hittite women. One was Judith daughter of Beeri. The other was Basemath daughter of Elon. 35These women brought much sorrow to Isaac and Rebekah.
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Genesis 26: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Genesis 26
26
CHAPTER 26
1Forsooth for hunger rose on the land, after that barrenness that befelled in the days of Abraham, Isaac went forth to Abimelech, king of Palestines, in Gerar.
2And the Lord appeared to him, and said, Go not down into Egypt, but rest thou in the land which I shall say to thee,
3and be thou a pilgrim therein; and I shall be with thee, and I shall bless thee; for I shall give all these countries to thee, and to thy seed, and I shall [ful] fill the oath which I promised to Abraham, thy father.
4And I shall multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and I shall give all these countries to thine heirs, and all folks of the earth shall be blessed in thy seed,
5for Abraham obeyed to my voice, and kept my behests, and my commandments, and my ceremonies, and my laws.
6And so Isaac dwelled in Gerar.
7And when he was asked of [the] men of that place of his wife, he answered, She is my sister; for he dreaded to acknowledge that she was fellowshipped to him in matrimony, and he guessed lest peradventure they would slay him for the fairness of her.
8And when full many days were passed, and he dwelled there, Abimelech, king of Palestines, beheld by a window, and saw him playing with Rebecca, his wife.
9And when Isaac was called, the king said, It is open, that she is thy wife; why saidest thou, that she was thy sister? Isaac answered, For I dreaded, lest I should die for her.
10And Abimelech said, Why hast thou deceived us? Some man of the people might do lechery with thy wife, and thou haddest brought in grievous sin on us.
11And the king commanded to all the people, and said, He that toucheth the wife of this man shall die by death.
12Forsooth Isaac sowed in that land, and he found an hundredfold increase in that year; and the Lord blessed him.
13And the man was made rich, and he went profiting and increasing, till he was made full great.
14Also he had possessions of sheep and of great beasts, and full much of menials. For this thing Palestines had envy to him,
15and they stopped in that time and filled with earth all the pits or wells which the servants of Abraham his father had digged,
16in so much that Abimelech himself said to Isaac, Go thou away from us, for thou art made greatly mightier than we.
17And he went away, that he should come to the strand of Gerar, and dwelled there.
18And he digged again other wells, which the servants of Abraham his father had digged, and which the Philistines had stopped sometime, when Abraham was dead; and he called those pits by the same names, by which his father had called before.
19They digged in the strand, and they found quick, or welling up, water.
20But also strife of [the] shepherds of Gerar was there against the shep-herds of Isaac, and they said, The water is ours; wherefore of that strife that befelled, Isaac called the name of that well False Challenge, or Esek, or Quarrel.
21And they digged another well, and they strived also for that, and Isaac called that well Enmities, or Sitnah, or Enmity.
22And he went forth from thence, and digged another pit, for which they strived not, [and] therefore he called the name of that well Breadth, either Largeness; and said, Now God hath alarged us, and hath made us to increase on [the] earth.
23Isaac forsooth went up from that place into Beersheba,
24where the Lord appeared to him in that night; and said, I am [the] God of Abraham, thy father; do not thou dread, for I am with thee, and I shall bless thee, and I shall multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham.
25And so Isaac builded there an altar to the Lord; and when the name of the Lord was inwardly called, he stretched forth a tabernacle; and he commanded his servants that they should dig pits.
26And when Abimelech, and Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phicol, [the] duke of knights, had come from Gerar to that place,
27Isaac spake to them, What came ye to me, a man whom ye have hated, and putted away from you?
28Which answered, We saw that God is with thee, and therefore we said now, An oath be betwixt us, and make we a covenant of peace,
29that thou do not any [thing of] evil to us, as we touched nothing of thine, neither did that that hurted thee, but with peace we let go thee increased by the blessings of the Lord.
30Therefore Isaac made them a feast; and after meat and drink,
31they rose early, and swore each to other; and Isaac let go them peaceably into their place.
32Lo! forsooth in that day the servants of Isaac came, telling to him of the pit which they had digged, and said, We have found water.
33Wherefore Isaac called that pit Abundance or Shebah; and the name of the city was set Beersheba till into this present day.
34Esau forsooth forty years eld [or old] wedded two wives, Judith#26:34 She is also known as Oholibamah or Aholibamah., the daughter of Beeri Hittite, and Bashemath#26:34 She is also known as Adah., the daughter of Elon, of the same place;
35which both offended the soul of Isaac and of Rebecca.
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