Genesis 26

There 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.

And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.

The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land where I tell you to live.

And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:

Stay 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.

Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

I 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.

And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

I will do all these things because Abraham obeyed me. He did everything I required. He kept my commands, my rules and my instructions.”

Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

So Isaac stayed in Gerar.

And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:

The 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.”

And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.

Isaac 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.

And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.

So 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.”

And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife; and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.

Then 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.”

And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.

So Abimelek gave orders to all the people. He said, “Anyone who harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”

And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

Isaac planted crops in that land. That same year he gathered 100 times more than he planted. That was because the Lord blessed him.

Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.

Isaac became rich. His wealth continued to grow until he became very rich.

And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:

He had many flocks and herds and servants. Isaac had so much that the Philistines became jealous of him.

For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.

So they stopped up all the wells the servants of his father Abraham had dug. They filled them with dirt.

For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.

Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us. You have become too powerful for us.”

And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.

So Isaac moved away from there. He camped in the Valley of Gerar, where he made his home.

And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

Isaac 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.

And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

Isaac’s servants dug wells in the valley. There they discovered fresh water.

And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

But 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.

And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.

Then Isaac’s servants dug another well. They argued about that one too. So he named it Sitnah.

And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.

Isaac 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.”

And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

From there Isaac went up to Beersheba.

And he went up from thence to Beersheba.

That 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.”

And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.

Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. There he set up his tent. And there his servants dug a well.

And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.

During that time, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar. His personal adviser, Ahuzzath, had come with him. So had his army commander, Phicol.

Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.

Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me? You were angry with me and sent me away.”

And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?

They 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.

And they said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;

Give 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.”

That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the Lord.

Then Isaac had a feast prepared for them. They ate and drank.

And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.

Early 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.

And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

That day Isaac’s servants came to him. They told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!”

And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water.

So he named it Shibah. To this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.

Jacob Takes Esau’s Blessing

And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.

When 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.

And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:

Isaac and Rebekah became very upset because Esau had married Hittite women.

Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.