²⁶ Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, ^(A)and Phichol the commander of his army.

A Covenant with Abimelech

²² And it came to pass at that time that ^(A)Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, ^(B)“God is with you in all that you do. ²³ Now therefore, ^(C)swear^[a] to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt.”

²⁴ And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

²⁵ Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech’s servants ^(D)had seized. ²⁶ And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor had I heard of it until today.” ²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them ^(E)made a ^[b]covenant. ²⁸ And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

²⁹ Then Abimelech asked Abraham, ^(F)“What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?”

³⁰ And he said, “You will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that ^(G)they may be my witness that I have dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore he ^(H)called that place ^[c]Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.

³² Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose with Phichol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines.

³ But ^(A)God came to Abimelech ^(B)in a dream by night, and said to him, ^(C)“Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is ^[a]a man’s wife.”