1There was another famine in the land besides the earlier one during the time of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. 2The LORD had appeared to Isaac and had said, “Do not go to Egypt; stay in this land, where I tell you to stay. 3#Gen 22.16–18Live here, and I will be with you and bless you. I am going to give all this territory to you and to your descendants. I will keep the promise I made to your father Abraham. 4I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, and I will give them all this territory. All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants. 5I will bless you, because Abraham obeyed me and kept all my laws and commands.”

6So Isaac lived at Gerar. 7#Gen 12.13; 20.2When the men there asked about his wife, he said that she was his sister. He would not admit that she was his wife, because he was afraid that the men there would kill him to get Rebecca, who was very beautiful. 8When Isaac had been there for some time, King Abimelech looked down from his window and saw Isaac and Rebecca making love. 9Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is your wife! Why did you say she was your sister?”

He answered, “I thought I would be killed if I said she was my wife.”

10“What have you done to us?” Abimelech said. “One of my men might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have been responsible for our guilt.” 11Abimelech warned all the people: “Anyone who ill-treats this man or his wife will be put to death.”

12Isaac sowed seed in that land, and that year he harvested a hundred times as much as he had sown, because the LORD blessed him. 13He continued to prosper and became a very rich man. 14Because he had many herds of sheep and cattle and many servants, the Philistines were jealous of him. 15So they filled in all the wells which the servants of his father Abraham had dug while Abraham was alive.

16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave our country. You have become more powerful than we are.” 17So Isaac left and set up his camp in the Valley of Gerar, where he stayed for some time. 18He dug once again the wells which had been dug during the time of Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death. Isaac gave the wells the same names that his father had given them.

19Isaac's servants dug a well in the valley and found water. 20The shepherds of Gerar quarrelled with Isaac's shepherds and said, “This water belongs to us.” So Isaac named the well “Quarrel”.

21Isaac's servants dug another well, and there was a quarrel about that one also, so he named it “Enmity”. 22He moved away from there and dug another well. There was no dispute about this one, so he named it “Freedom”. He said, “Now the LORD has given us freedom to live in the land, and we will be prosperous here.”

23Isaac left and went to Beersheba. 24That night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid; I am with you. I will bless you and give you many descendants because of my promise to my servant Abraham.” 25Isaac built an altar there and worshipped the LORD. Then he set up his camp there, and his servants dug another well.

The Agreement between Isaac and Abimelech

26 # Gen 21.22 Abimelech came from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army to see Isaac. 27So Isaac asked, “Why have you now come to see me, when you were so unfriendly to me before and made me leave your country?”

28They answered, “Now we know that the LORD is with you, and we think that there should be a solemn agreement between us. We want you to promise 29that you will not harm us, just as we did not harm you. We were kind to you and let you leave peacefully. Now it is clear that the LORD has blessed you.” 30Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31Early next morning each man made his promise and sealed it with a vow. Isaac said goodbye to them, and they parted as friends.

32On that day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug. They said, “We have found water.” 33He named the well “Vow”. That is how the city of Beersheba#26.33 Beersheba: This name in Hebrew means “Well of the Vow” or “Well of Seven” (see also 21.31). got its name.

Esau's Foreign Wives

34When Esau was forty years old, he married two Hittite women, Judith the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath the daughter of Elon. 35They made life miserable for Isaac and Rebecca.

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Genesis 26

Isaac and Abimelech

1There was a famine in the land, besides #Gen. 12:10the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to #Gen. 20:1, 2Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.

2Then the Lord appeared to him and said: #Gen. 12:7; 17:1; 18:1; 35:9“Do not go down to Egypt; live in #Gen. 12:1the land of which I shall tell you. 3#Gen. 20:1; Ps. 39:12; Heb. 11:9Dwell in this land, and #Gen. 28:13, 15I will be with you and #Gen. 12:2bless you; for to you and your descendants #Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 15:18I give all these lands, and I will perform #Gen. 22:16; Ps. 105:9the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4And #Gen. 15:5; 22:17; Ex. 32:13I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; #Gen. 12:3; 22:18; Gal. 3:8and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5#Gen. 22:16, 18because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

6So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 7And the men of the place asked about his wife. And #Gen. 12:13; 20:2, 12, 13he said, “She is my sister”; for #Prov. 29:25he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is #Gen. 12:11; 24:16; 29:17beautiful to behold.” 8Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife. 9Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ ”

10And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and #Gen. 20:9you would have brought guilt on us.” 11So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who #Ps. 105:15touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

12Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year #Matt. 13:8, 23; Mark 4:8a hundredfold; and the Lord #Gen. 24:1; 25:8, 11; 26:3; Job 42:12; Prov. 10:22blessed him. 13The man #Gen. 24:35; (Prov. 10:22)began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; 14for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines #Gen. 37:11; Eccl. 4:4envied him. 15Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells #Gen. 21:25, 30which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. 16And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for #Ex. 1:9you are much mightier than we.”

17Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 18And Isaac 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. #Gen. 21:31He called them by the names which his father had called them.

19Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there. 20But the herdsmen of Gerar #Gen. 21:25quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him. 21Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah. 22And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall #Gen. 17:6; 28:3; 41:52; Ex. 1:7be fruitful in the land.”

23Then he went up from there to Beersheba. 24And the Lord #Gen. 26:2appeared to him the same night and said, #Gen. 17:7, 8; 24:12; Ex. 3:6; Acts 7:32“I am the God of your father Abraham; #Gen. 15:1do not fear, for #Gen. 26:3, 4I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.” 25So he #Gen. 12:7, 8; 13:4, 18; 22:9; 33:20built an altar there and #Gen. 21:33; Ps. 116:17called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

26Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, #Gen. 21:22and Phichol the commander of his army. 27And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, #Judg. 11:7since you hate me and have #Gen. 26:16sent me away from you?”

28But they said, “We have certainly seen that the Lord #Gen. 21:22, 23is 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, 29that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. #Gen. 24:31; Ps. 115:15You are now the blessed of the Lord.’ ”

30#Gen. 19:3So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31Then they arose early in the morning and #Gen. 21:31swore an oath with one another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

32It came to pass the same day that Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” 33So he called it Shebah. #Gen. 21:31; 28:10Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

34#Gen. 28:8; 36:2When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35And #Gen. 27:46; 28:1, 8they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.

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Genesis 26

Genesis 26