Genesis 26
New American Standard Bible
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 And the Lord (C)appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; (D)stay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Live for a time in this land and (E)I will be with you and (F)bless you, for (G)to you and to your [a]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 [b]descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your [c]descendants all these lands; and (J)by your [d]descendants all the nations of the earth [e]shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham [f](K)obeyed Me and fulfilled his duty to Me, and kept My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
6 So Isaac 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, “[g]the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is (N)beautiful.” 8 Now it came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down through a window, and saw them, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she certainly is your wife! So how is it that you said, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘otherwise I might be killed on account of her.’” 10 And (O)Abimelech said, “What is this that you have done to us? One of the people might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who (P)touches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death.”
12 Now Isaac sowed in that land and [h]reaped in the same year a hundred times as much. And (Q)the Lord blessed him, 13 and the man (R)became rich, and continued to grow [i]richer until he became very [j]wealthy; 14 for (S)he had possessions of flocks [k]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 his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up [l]by filling them with dirt. 16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are [m](U)too powerful for us.” 17 So Isaac departed from there and camped in the Valley of Gerar, and [n]settled there.
Argument over the Wells
18 Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which [o]had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he [p]gave them the same names which his father had [q]given them. 19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of [r]flowing water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar (V)quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well [s]Esek, because they argued with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it [t]Sitnah. 22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it [u]Rehoboth, for he said, “[v](W)At last the Lord has made [w]room for us, and we will be (X)fruitful in the land.”
23 And he went up from there to (Y)Beersheba. 24 And the Lord (Z)appeared to him the same night and said,
“(AA)I am the God of your father Abraham;
(AB)Do not fear, for I am with you.
I (AC)will bless you and multiply your [x]descendants,
For the sake of My servant Abraham.”
25 So he built an (AD)altar there and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
Covenant with Abimelech
26 Then (AE)Abimelech came to him from Gerar [y]with his adviser Ahuzzath, and Phicol the commander of his army. 27 Isaac said to them, “(AF)Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28 They said, “We have seen plainly (AG)that the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘An oath must now be taken [z]by us,’ that is, [aa]by you and us. So let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you [ab]and have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace. You are now the (AH)blessed of the Lord.” 30 Then (AI)he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they got up early and [ac](AJ)exchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away, and they left him in peace. 32 Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 So he called it [ad]Shibah; therefore the name of the city is (AK)Beersheba to this day.
34 When Esau was forty years old (AL)he [ae]married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; 35 and (AM)they [af]brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
Footnotes
- Genesis 26:3 Lit seed
- Genesis 26:4 Lit seed
- Genesis 26:4 Lit seed
- Genesis 26:4 Lit seed
- Genesis 26:4 Or bless themselves
- Genesis 26:5 Lit listened diligently to My voice
- Genesis 26:7 Lit lest...place
- Genesis 26:12 Lit found
- Genesis 26:13 Lit great
- Genesis 26:13 Lit great
- Genesis 26:14 Lit and possessions of herds
- Genesis 26:15 Lit and filled them
- Genesis 26:16 Lit much mightier than we
- Genesis 26:17 Lit dwelt
- Genesis 26:18 Lit they had dug
- Genesis 26:18 Lit called their names as the names
- Genesis 26:18 Lit called
- Genesis 26:19 Lit living
- Genesis 26:20 I.e., argument
- Genesis 26:21 I.e., accusation
- Genesis 26:22 I.e., broad places
- Genesis 26:22 Lit Truly now
- Genesis 26:22 Or broad
- Genesis 26:24 Lit seed
- Genesis 26:26 Lit and his confidential friend
- Genesis 26:28 Lit between us
- Genesis 26:28 Lit between us and you
- Genesis 26:29 Lit and just as we
- Genesis 26:31 Lit swore one to another
- Genesis 26:33 Meaning uncertain, perhaps oath
- Genesis 26:34 Lit took as wife
- Genesis 26:35 Lit were a bitterness of spirit to
Genesis 26
Common English Bible
Isaac and Rebekah visit Gerar
26 When a famine gripped the land, a different one from the first famine that occurred in Abraham’s time, Isaac set out toward Gerar and toward King Abimelech of the Philistines. 2 The Lord appeared to him and said, “Don’t go down to Egypt but settle temporarily in the land that I will show you. 3 Stay in this land as an immigrant, and I will be with you and bless you because I will give all of these lands to you and your descendants. I will keep my word, which I gave to your father Abraham. 4 I will give you as many descendants as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all of these lands. All of the nations of the earth will be blessed because of your descendants. 5 I will do this because Abraham obeyed me and kept my orders, my commandments, my statutes, and my instructions.”
6 So Isaac lived in Gerar. 7 When the men who lived there asked about his wife, he said, “She’s my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, The men who live there will kill me for Rebekah because she’s very beautiful. 8 After Isaac had lived there for some time, the Philistines’ King Abimelech looked out his window and saw Isaac laughing together with his wife Rebekah.
9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She’s your wife, isn’t she? How could you say, ‘She’s my sister’?”
Isaac responded, “Because I thought that I might be killed because of her.”
10 Abimelech said, “What are you trying to do to us? Before long, one of the people would have slept with your wife; and you would have made us guilty.” 11 Abimelech gave orders to all of the people, “Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be put to death!”
Isaac’s treaty with the Philistines
12 Isaac planted grain in that land and reaped one hundred shearim[a] that year because the Lord had blessed him. 13 Isaac grew richer and richer until he was extremely wealthy. 14 He had livestock, both flocks and cattle, and many servants. As a result, the Philistines envied him. 15 The Philistines closed up and filled with dirt all of the wells that his father’s servants had dug during his father Abraham’s lifetime. 16 Abimelech said to Isaac, “Move away from us because you have become too powerful among us.”
17 So Isaac moved away from there, camped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there. 18 Isaac dug out again the wells that were dug during the lifetime of his father Abraham. The Philistines had closed them up after Abraham’s death. Isaac gave them the same names his father had given them. 19 Isaac’s servants dug wells in the valley and found a well there with fresh water. 20 Isaac’s shepherds argued with Gerar’s shepherds, each claiming, “This is our water.” So Isaac named the well Esek[b] because they quarreled with him. 21 They dug another well and argued about it too, so he named it Sitnah.[c] 22 He left there and dug another well, but they didn’t argue about it, so he named it Rehoboth[d] and said, “Now the Lord has made an open space for us and has made us fertile in the land.”
23 Then he went up from Gerar to Beer-sheba. 24 The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Don’t be afraid because I am with you. I will bless you, and I will give you many children for my servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So Isaac built an altar there and worshipped in the Lord’s name. Isaac pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well.
26 But Abimelech set out toward him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his ally and Phicol the commander of his forces. 27 Isaac said to him, “Why have you come after me? You resented me and sent me away from you.”
28 They said, “We now see that the Lord was with you. We propose that there be a formal agreement between us and that we draw up a treaty[e] with you: 29 you must not treat us badly since we haven’t harmed you and since we have treated you well at all times. Then we will send you away peacefully, for you are now blessed by the Lord.” 30 Isaac prepared a banquet for them, and they ate and drank. 31 They got up early in the morning, and they gave each other their word. Isaac sent them off, and they left peacefully.
32 That day Isaac’s servants informed him about the well that they had been digging and said to him, “We found water.” 33 He called it Shibah;[f] therefore, the city’s name has been Beer-sheba[g] until today.
Esau’s wives
34 When Esau was 40 years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 They made life very difficult for Isaac and Rebekah.
Footnotes
- Genesis 26:12 An unknown measure of grain
- Genesis 26:20 Or quarrel
- Genesis 26:21 Or accusation
- Genesis 26:22 Or open spaces
- Genesis 26:28 Or covenant
- Genesis 26:33 Or giving one’s word or seven
- Genesis 26:33 Or Well of giving one’s word or Well of seven
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