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. 2And the Lord 3appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; 4stay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3Live for a time in this land and 5I will be with you and 6bless you, for 7to you and to your 8descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish 9the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 410I will multiply your 11descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your 12descendants all these lands; and 13by your 14descendants all the nations of the earth 15shall be blessed, 5because Abraham 1617obeyed Me and fulfilled his duty to Me, and kept My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

6So Isaac lived in Gerar. 7When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “18She is my sister,” for he was 19afraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “20the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is 21beautiful.” 8Now it came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down through a window, and saw them, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah. 9Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she certainly is your wife! So how is it that you said, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘otherwise I might be killed on account of her.’” 10And 22Abimelech said, “What is this that you have done to us? One of the people might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11So Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who 23touches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death.”

12Now Isaac sowed in that land and 24reaped in the same year a hundred times as much. And 25the Lord blessed him, 13and the man 26became rich, and continued to grow 27richer until he became very 28wealthy; 14for 29he had possessions of flocks 30and herds, and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. 15Now 31all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up 32by filling them with dirt. 16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are 3334too powerful for us.” 17So Isaac departed from there and camped in the Valley of Gerar, and 35settled there.

Argument over the Wells

18Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which 36had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he 37gave them the same names which his father had 38given them. 19But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of 39flowing water, 20the herdsmen of Gerar 40quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well 41Esek, because they argued with him. 21Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it 42Sitnah. 22Then he moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it 43Rehoboth, for he said, “4445At last the Lord has made 46room for us, and we will be 47fruitful in the land.”

23And he went up from there to 48Beersheba. 24And the Lord 49appeared to him the same night and said, “50I am the God of your father Abraham; 51Do not fear, for I am with you. I 52will bless you and multiply your 53descendants, For the sake of My servant Abraham.” 25So he built an 54altar 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 55Abimelech came to him from Gerar 56with his adviser Ahuzzath, and Phicol the commander of his army. 27Isaac said to them, “57Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28They said, “We have seen plainly 58that the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘An oath must now be taken 59by us,’ that is, 60by you and us. So let us make a covenant with you, 29that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you 61and have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace. You are now the 62blessed of the Lord.” 30Then 63he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31In the morning they got up early and 6465exchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away, and they left 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 66Shibah; 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.