A Covenant with Abimelech

²² Now it happened at that time, that ^(A)Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “^(B)God is with you in all that you do; ²³ so now, ^(C)swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but according to the lovingkindness that I have shown you, you shall show me and the land in which you have sojourned.” ²⁴ And Abraham said, “I swear it.” ²⁵ But Abraham reproved Abimelech about the well of water which the servants of Abimelech ^(D)had seized. ²⁶ And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it ^[a]until today.”

²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and ^(E)the two of them cut a covenant. ²⁸ Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?” ³⁰ He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a ^(F)witness to me, that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore he called that place ^(G)Beersheba, because there the two of them swore an oath. ³² So they cut a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there ^(H)he called upon the name of Yahweh, the ^(I)Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham sojourned ^(J)in the land of the Philistines for many days.