Genesis 26:12-33

New American Standard Bible

¹² Now Isaac sowed in that land and ^[a]reaped in the same year a hundred times as much. And ^(A)the Lord blessed him, ¹³ and the man ^(B)became rich, and continued to grow ^[b]richer until he became very ^[c]wealthy; ¹⁴ for ^(C)he had possessions of flocks ^[d]and herds, and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. ¹⁵ Now ^(D)all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up ^[e]by filling them with dirt. ¹⁶ Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are ^[f](E)too powerful for us.” ¹⁷ So Isaac departed from there and camped in the Valley of Gerar, and ^[g]settled there.

Argument over the Wells

¹⁸ Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which ^[h]had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he ^[i]gave them the same names which his father had ^[j]given them. ¹⁹ But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of ^[k]flowing water, ²⁰ the herdsmen of Gerar ^(F)quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well ^[l]Esek, because they argued with him. ²¹ Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it ^[m]Sitnah. ²² Then he moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it ^[n]Rehoboth, for he said, “^[o](G)At last the Lord has made ^[p]room for us, and we will be ^(H)fruitful in the land.”

²³ And he went up from there to ^(I)Beersheba. ²⁴ And the Lord ^(J)appeared to him the same night and said,

²⁵ So he built an ^(N)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 ^(O)Abimelech came to him from Gerar ^[r]with his adviser Ahuzzath, and Phicol the commander of his army. ²⁷ Isaac said to them, “^(P)Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” ²⁸ They said, “We have seen plainly ^(Q)that the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘An oath must now be taken ^[s]by us,’ that is, ^[t]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 ^[u]and have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace. You are now the ^(R)blessed of the Lord.” ³⁰ Then ^(S)he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. ³¹ In the morning they got up early and ^[v](T)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 ^[w]Shibah; therefore the name of the city is ^(U)Beersheba to this day.