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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Genesis 26: DRC1752
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Genesis 26
26
Isaac and Abimelek
1There was very little food in the land. The same thing had been true earlier, in Abraham’s time. Isaac went to Abimelek in Gerar. Abimelek was the king of the Philistines. 2The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land where I tell you to live. 3Stay there for a while. I will be with you and give you my blessing. I will give all these lands to you and your children after you. And I will keep my word that I gave to your father Abraham. 4I will make your children after you as many as the stars in the sky. And I will give them all these lands. All nations on earth will be blessed because of your children. 5I will do all these things because Abraham obeyed me. He did everything I required. He kept my commands, my rules and my instructions.” 6So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
7The men of that place asked him about his wife. He said, “She’s my sister.” He was afraid to say, “She’s my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me because of Rebekah. She’s a beautiful woman.”
8Isaac had been there a long time. One day Abimelek, the king of the Philistines, looked down from a window. He saw Isaac hugging and kissing his wife Rebekah. 9So Abimelek sent for Isaac. He said, “She’s really your wife, isn’t she? Why did you say she was your sister?”
Isaac answered him, “I thought I might lose my life because of her.”
10Then Abimelek said, “What have you done to us? What if one of the men slept with your wife? Then you would have made us guilty.”
11So Abimelek gave orders to all the people. He said, “Anyone who harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
12Isaac planted crops in that land. That same year he gathered 100 times more than he planted. That was because the Lord blessed him. 13Isaac became rich. His wealth continued to grow until he became very rich. 14He had many flocks and herds and servants. Isaac had so much that the Philistines became jealous of him. 15So they stopped up all the wells the servants of his father Abraham had dug. They filled them with dirt.
16Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us. You have become too powerful for us.”
17So Isaac moved away from there. He camped in the Valley of Gerar, where he made his home. 18Isaac opened up the wells again. They had been dug in the time of his father Abraham. The Philistines had stopped them up after Abraham died. Isaac gave the wells the same names his father had given them.
19Isaac’s servants dug wells in the valley. There they discovered fresh water. 20But the people of Gerar who took care of their own herds argued with the people who took care of Isaac’s herds. “The water is ours!” the people of Gerar said. So Isaac named the well Esek. That’s because they argued with him. 21Then Isaac’s servants dug another well. They argued about that one too. So he named it Sitnah. 22Isaac moved on from there and dug another well. But no one argued about that one. So he named it Rehoboth. He said, “Now the Lord has given us room. Now we will be successful in the land.”
23From there Isaac went up to Beersheba. 24That night the Lord appeared to him. He said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid. I am with you. I will bless you. I will increase the number of your children because of my servant Abraham.”
25Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. There he set up his tent. And there his servants dug a well.
26During that time, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar. His personal adviser, Ahuzzath, had come with him. So had his army commander, Phicol. 27Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me? You were angry with me and sent me away.”
28They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you. So we said, ‘There should be an agreement between us and you.’ We want to make a peace treaty with you. 29Give us your word that you won’t harm us. We didn’t harm you. We always treated you well. We sent you away peacefully. And now the Lord has blessed you.”
30Then Isaac had a feast prepared for them. They ate and drank. 31Early the next morning the men made a treaty with each other. Then Isaac sent the men of Gerar on their way. And they left peacefully.
32That day Isaac’s servants came to him. They told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!” 33So he named it Shibah. To this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.
Jacob Takes Esau’s Blessing
34When Esau was 40 years old, he got married to Judith. She was the daughter of Beeri the Hittite. Esau also married Basemath. She was the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35Isaac and Rebekah became very upset because Esau had married Hittite women.
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