Genesis 26

¹And when a famine came in the land, after that barrenness which had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Palestines, to Gerara.

²And the Lord appeared to him, and said: Go not down into Egypt, but stay in the land that I shall tell thee.

³And sojourn in it, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee: for to thee and to thy seed I will give all these countries, to fulfil the oath which I swore to Abraham thy father.

⁴And I will multiply thy seed like the stars of heaven: and I will give to thy posterity all these countries: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

⁵Because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts and commandments, and observed my ceremonies and laws.

⁶So Isaac abode in Gerara.

⁷And when he was asked by the men of that place, concerning his wife, he answered: She is my sister: for he was afraid to confess that she was his wife, thinking lest perhaps they would kill him because of her beauty.

⁸And when very many days were passed, and he abode there, Abimelech, king of the Palestines, looking out through a window, saw him playing with Rebecca, his wife.

⁹And calling for him, he said: It is evident she is thy wife: why didst thou feign her to be thy sister? He answered: I feared lest I should die for her sake.

¹⁰And Abimelech said: Why hast thou deceived us? Some man of the people might have lain with thy wife, and thou hadst brought upon us a great sin. And he commanded all the people, saying:

¹¹He that shall touch this man's wife, shall surely be put to death.

¹²And Isaac sowed in that land, and he found that same year a hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.

¹³And the man was enriched, and he went on prospering and increasing, till he became exceeding great.

¹⁴And he had possessions of sheep and of herds, and a very great family. Wherefore the Palestines envying him,

¹⁵Stopped up at that time all the wells, that the servants of his father, Abraham, had digged, filling them up with earth:

¹⁶Insomuch that Abimelech himself said to Isaac: Depart from us, for thou art become much mightier than we.

¹⁷So he departed, and came to the torrent of Gerara, to dwell there:

¹⁸And he digged again other wells, which the servants of his father, Abraham, had digged, and which, after his death, the Philistines had of old stopped up: and he called them by the same names, by which his father before had called them.

¹⁹And they digged in the torrent, and found living water:

²⁰But there also the herdsmen of Gerara strove against the herdsmen of Isaac, saying: It is our water. Wherefore he called the name of the well, on occasion of that which had happened, Calumny.

²¹And they digged also another; and for that they quarrelled likewise, and he called the name of it, Enmity.

²²Going forward from thence, he digged another well, for which they contended not; therefore he called the name thereof, Latitude, saying: Now hath the Lord given us room, and made us to increase upon the earth.

²³And he went up from that place to Bersabee,

²⁴Where the Lord appeared to him that same night, saying: I am the God of Abraham thy father, do not fear, for I am with thee: I will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.

²⁵And he built there an altar: and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent; and commanded his servants to dig a well.

²⁶To which place when Abimelech, and Ochozath his friend, and Phicol chief captain of his soldiers, came from Gerara,

²⁷Isaac said to them: Why are ye come to me, a man whom you hate, and have thrust out from you?

²⁸And they answered: We saw that the Lord is with thee, and therefore we said: Let there be an oath between us, and let us make a covenant,

²⁹That thou do us no harm, as we on our part have touched nothing of thine, nor have done any thing to hurt thee; but with peace have sent thee away, increased with the blessing of the Lord.

³⁰And he made them a feast, and after they had eaten and drunk:

³¹Arising in the morning, they swore one to another: and Isaac sent them away peaceably to their own home.

³²And behold, the same day the servants of Isaac came, telling him of a well which they had digged, and saying: We have found water.

³³Whereupon he called it Abundance: and the name of the city was called Bersabee, even to this day.

³⁴And Esau being forty years old, married wives, Judith, the daughter of Beeri, the Hethite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon, of the same place.

³⁵And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebecca.

Genesis 26

¹And 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.

²And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:

³Sojourn 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;

⁴And 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;

⁵Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

⁶And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:

⁷And 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.

⁸And 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.

⁹And 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.

¹⁰And 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.

¹¹And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

¹²Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.

¹³And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:

¹⁴For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.

¹⁵For 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.

¹⁶And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.

¹⁷And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

¹⁸And 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.

¹⁹And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

²⁰And 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.

²¹And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.

²²And 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.

²³And he went up from thence to Beer–sheba.

²⁴And 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.

²⁵And 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.

²⁶Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.

²⁷And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?

²⁸And 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;

²⁹That 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.

³⁰And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.

³¹And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

³²And 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.

³³And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beer–sheba unto this day.

³⁴And 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:

³⁵Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.