Genesis 26
26
1 AND THERE was a famine in the land, other than the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines.
2 And the Lord appeared to him and said, Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I will tell you.
3 Dwell temporarily in this land, and I will be with you and will favor you with blessings; for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
4 And I will make your descendants to multiply as the stars of the heavens, and will give to your posterity all these lands (kingdoms); and by your Offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, or by Him bless themselves, [Gen. 22:18; Acts 3:25, 26; Gal. 3:16.]
5 For Abraham listened to and obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commands, My statutes, and My laws.
6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
7 And the 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], Lest the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah, because she is attractive and is beautiful to look upon.
8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah his wife.
9 And Abimelech called Isaac and said, See here, she is certainly your wife! How did you [dare] say to me, She is my sister? And Isaac said to him, Because I thought, Lest I die on account of her.
10 And Abimelech said, What is this you have done to us? One of the men might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt and sin upon us.
11 Then Abimelech charged all his people, He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.
12 Then Isaac sowed seed in that land and received in the same year a hundred times as much as he had planted, and the Lord favored him with blessings.
13 And the man became great and gained more and more until he became very wealthy and distinguished;
14 He owned flocks, herds, and a great supply of servants, and the Philistines envied him.
15 Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had closed and filled with earth.
16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we are.
17 So Isaac went away from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the names by which his father had called them.
19 Now Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of living [spring] water.
20 And the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, The water is ours. And he named the well Esek [contention] because they quarreled with him.
21 Then [his servants] dug another well, and they quarreled over that also; so he named it Sitnah [enmity].
22 And he moved away from there and dug another well, and for that one they did not quarrel. He named it Rehoboth [room], saying, For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
23 Now he went up from there to Beersheba.
24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will favor you with blessings and multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham.
25 And [Isaac] built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants were digging a well.
26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzah, one of his friends, and Phicol, his army's commander.
27 And Isaac said to them, Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?
28 They said, We saw that the Lord was certainly with you; so we said, Let there be now an oath between us [carrying a curse with it to befall the one who breaks it], even between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you
29 That you will do us no harm, inasmuch as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed or favored of the Lord!
30 And he made them a [formal] dinner, and they ate and drank.
31 And they rose up early in the morning and took oaths [with a curse] with one another; and Isaac sent them on their way and they departed from him in peace.
32 That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well they had dug, saying, We have found water!
33 And he named [the well] Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba [well of the oath] to this day. [Gen. 21:31.]
34 Now Esau was 40 years old when he took as wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
35 And they made life bitter and a grief of mind and spirit for Isaac and Rebekah [their parents-in-law].
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Genesis 26: AMPC
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1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
Genesis 26
26
Isaac Lives at Gerar
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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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.