Genesis 26

Isaac Settles in Gerar

1Now there was 1a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to 2Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2The Lord 3appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; 45stay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3Sojourn in this land and 6I will be with you and 7bless you, for 8to you and to your 9descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish 10the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 411I will multiply your 12descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your 13descendants all these lands; and 14by your 15descendants all the nations of the earth 16shall be blessed; 5because Abraham 1718obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.”

6So Isaac 19lived in Gerar. 7When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “20She is my sister,” for he was 21afraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “22the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is 23beautiful.” 8It came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah. 9Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, certainly she is your wife! How then did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘I might die on account of her.’” 1024Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11So Abimelech charged all the people, saying, “He who 25touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

12Now Isaac sowed in that land and 26reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And 27the Lord blessed him, 13and the man 28became rich, and continued to grow 29richer until he became very 30wealthy; 14for 31he had possessions of flocks 32and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. 15Now 33all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up 34by filling them with earth. 16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are 3536too powerful for us.” 17And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar, and 37settled there.

Quarrel over the Wells

18Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which 38had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he 39gave them the same names which his father had 40given them. 19But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of 41flowing water, 20the herdsmen of Gerar 42quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well 43Esek, because they contended with him. 21Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it 44Sitnah. 22He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it 45Rehoboth, for he said, “4647At last the Lord has made 48room for us, and we will be 49fruitful in the land.”

23Then he went up from there to 50Beersheba. 24The Lord 51appeared to him the same night and said, “52I am the God of your father Abraham; 53Do not fear, for I am with you. I 54will bless you, and multiply your 55descendants, For the sake of My servant Abraham.” 25So he built an 56altar there and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

Covenant with Abimelech

26Then 57Abimelech came to him from Gerar 58with his adviser Ahuzzath and Phicol the commander of his army. 27Isaac said to them, “59Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28They said, “We see plainly 60that the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between 61you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you 62and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the 63blessed of the Lord.’” 30Then 64he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31In the morning they arose early and 6566exchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace. 32Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” 33So he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is 67Beersheba to this day.

34When Esau was forty years old 68he 69married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; 35and 70they 71brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.