Genesis 26:17-35

English Standard Version

¹⁷ So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. ¹⁸ And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And ^(A)he gave them the names that his father had given them. ¹⁹ But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, ²⁰ the herdsmen of Gerar ^(B)quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek,^[a] because they contended with him. ²¹ Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.^{[b] 22} And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth,^[c] saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

²³ From there he went up to Beersheba. ²⁴ And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, ^(C)“I am the God of Abraham your father. ^(D)Fear not, for ^(E)I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake.” ²⁵ So he ^(F)built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well.

²⁶ When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and ^(G)Phicol the commander of his army, ²⁷ Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and ^(H)have sent me away from you?” ²⁸ They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, ²⁹ that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. ^(I)You are now the blessed of the Lord.” ³⁰ So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. ³¹ In the morning they rose early and ^(J)exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. ³² That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” ³³ He called it Shibah;^[d] therefore the name of the city is ^(K)Beersheba to this day.

³⁴ When Esau was forty years old, he took ^(L)Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, ³⁵ and ^(M)they made life bitter^[e] for Isaac and Rebekah.