Chapter 26 Second famine
[1] 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.
[2] And the LORD appeared unto him, and said,
Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:
[3] 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;
[4] 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;
[5] Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
[6] And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:
[7] 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.
[8] 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.
[9] 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.
[10] 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.
[11] And Abimelech charged all his people, saying,
He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.
[12] Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.
[13] And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:
[14] For he had possession (of flocks), and possessions (of herds), and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.
[15] 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[1].
[16] And Abimelech said unto Isaac,
Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.
[17] And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
[18] 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.
[19] And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
[20] 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.
[21] And they digged another well, and strove for that also:and he called the name of it Sitnah.
[22] 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.
[23] And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba.
[24] 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.
[25] And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name (of the LORD)[2]and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.
[26] Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.
[27] And Isaac said unto them,
wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?
[28] 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;
[29] 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.
[30] And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.
[31] 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.
[32] 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.
[33] And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day.
[34] 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:
[35] Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.