Genesis 26:1-22

New American Standard Bible 1995

Isaac Settles in Gerar

26 Now there was ^(A)a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to ^(B)Abimelech king of the Philistines. ² The Lord ^(C)appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; ^[a](D)stay in the land of which I shall tell you. ³ Sojourn in this land and ^(E)I will be with you and ^(F)bless you, for ^(G)to you and to your ^[b]descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish ^(H)the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. ^4 (I)I will multiply your ^[c]descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your ^[d]descendants all these lands; and ^(J)by your ^[e]descendants all the nations of the earth ^[f]shall be blessed; ⁵ because Abraham ^[g](K)obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.”

⁶ So Isaac ^[h]lived in Gerar. ⁷ When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “^(L)She is my sister,” for he was ^(M)afraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “^[i]the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is ^(N)beautiful.” ⁸ It 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. ⁹ Then 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.’” ^10 (O)Abimelech 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.” ¹¹ So Abimelech charged all the people, saying, “He who ^(P)touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

¹² Now Isaac sowed in that land and ^[j]reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And ^(Q)the Lord blessed him, ¹³ and the man ^(R)became rich, and continued to grow ^[k]richer until he became very ^[l]wealthy; ¹⁴ for ^(S)he had possessions of flocks ^[m]and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. ¹⁵ Now ^(T)all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up ^[n]by filling them with earth. ¹⁶ Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are ^[o](U)too powerful for us.” ¹⁷ And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar, and ^[p]settled there.

Quarrel over the Wells

¹⁸ Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which ^[q]had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he ^[r]gave them the same names which his father had ^[s]given them. ¹⁹ But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of ^[t]flowing water, ²⁰ the herdsmen of Gerar ^(V)quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well ^[u]Esek, because they contended with him. ²¹ Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it ^[v]Sitnah. ²² He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it ^[w]Rehoboth, for he said, “^[x](W)At last the Lord has made ^[y]room for us, and we will be ^(X)fruitful in the land.”