Genesis 26
English Standard Version
God's Promise to Isaac
26 Now there was a famine in the land, besides (A)the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to (B)Abimelech king of the (C)Philistines. 2 And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell (D)in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 (E)Sojourn in this land, and (F)I will be with you and will bless you, for (G)to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish (H)the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 (I)I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And (J)in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because (K)Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
Isaac and Abimelech
6 So Isaac settled in Gerar. 7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, (L)he said, “She is my sister,” for (M)he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because (N)she was attractive in appearance. 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with[a] Rebekah his wife. 9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’” 10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and (O)you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord (P)blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines (Q)envied him. 15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells (R)that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
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 (S)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 (T)quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek,[b] because they contended with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.[c] 22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth,[d] 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, (U)“I am the God of Abraham your father. (V)Fear not, for (W)I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake.” 25 So he (X)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 (Y)Phicol the commander of his army, 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and (Z)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. (AA)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 (AB)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;[e] therefore the name of the city is (AC)Beersheba to this day.
34 When Esau was forty years old, he took (AD)Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, 35 and (AE)they made life bitter[f] for Isaac and Rebekah.
Footnotes
- Genesis 26:8 Hebrew may suggest an intimate relationship
- Genesis 26:20 Esek means contention
- Genesis 26:21 Sitnah means enmity
- Genesis 26:22 Rehoboth means broad places, or room
- Genesis 26:33 Shibah sounds like the Hebrew for oath
- Genesis 26:35 Hebrew they were bitterness of spirit
Genesis 26
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 26
Isaac Inherits the Blessing.[a] 1 A second famine came upon the land (after the first famine in the days of Abraham). Isaac traveled to Gerar to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines. 2 The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down into Egypt; live in the land to which I will direct you. 3 Remain in that land for a while and I will be with you and bless you. I will give all these lands to you and your descendants and fulfill the promise I made to Abraham your father. 4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of the heavens and I will give them all these lands. All the nations on the earth will be blessed through your descendants, 5 for Abraham listened to my voice and observed that which I ordered: my commandments, my ordinances and my laws.” 6 Isaac thus dwelt in Gerar.
7 The men of that place asked him about his wife, and he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” thinking that the men of that place would kill him because Rebekah was very beautiful.
8 He had been there for quite some time when Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, came to the window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 Abimelech called to Isaac and said, “Surely, she is your wife. Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”
Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might be killed on her account!”
10 Abimelech continued, “What have you done to us? It would have been easy for one of the people to lie with your wife and that would have brought sin upon us.”
11 Hence, Abimelech gave this order to all the people, “Whoever touches this man or his wife will be put to death!”
12 Isaac planted a crop in a land and that year he reaped a hundredfold. The Lord had thus blessed him. 13 He became important and continued to prosper until he was very rich. 14 He possessed great flocks and herds and slaves, and the Philistines began to become jealous of him.
15 The Dispute over Wells. The Philistines stopped up and filled in with dirt all the wells that the servants of his father had dug in the days of his father Abraham.
16 Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us, for you are much mightier than we are.”
17 Isaac went away from there, and camped in the Valley of Gerar and dwelt there. 18 Isaac returned to dig wells that the servants of his father Abraham had dug and that the Philistines had stopped up after the death of Abraham. He gave them the same names as his father had given them.
19 The servants of Isaac dug in the valley and found a well of living waters. 20 But the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with the shepherds of Isaac saying, “The water is ours!” He therefore called the well Esek[b] because they had quarreled with him. 21 They dug another well, but they quarreled over this one as well, and he called it Sitnah.[c] 22 He thus moved away from there and dug another well over which they did not quarrel. He called it Rehoboth[d] and said, “Now the Lord has given us room so that we might prosper in the land.”
23 From there he went to Beer-sheba. 24 That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of Abraham, your father. Do not fear for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants on account of Abraham, my servant.”
25 He built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord. He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well.
26 The Covenant with Abimelech. Abimelech traveled from Gerar with Ahuzzath his friend and Phicol, the commander of his army, to see Isaac. 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, for you hate me and have sent me away from your midst?”
28 They answered him, “We have seen that the Lord is with you and we have said, ‘Let there be an oath between us, between you and us. Let us make a covenant with you 29 that you will not do anything against us, as we have not molested you but were always good to you and let you go away in peace.’ You are now a man blessed by the Lord.”
30 He prepared a meal for them and they ate and drank. 31 Rising early in the morning, they swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac bade them farewell, and they went away in peace.
32 That very day the servants of Isaac arrived and informed him about the well that they had dug saying, “We have found water.” 33 He called the well Shibah.[e] This is the city called Beer-sheba today.
34 Esau’s Hittite Wives.[f] When Esau was forty years old he married Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 They were a source of bitterness to Isaac and Rebekah.
Footnotes
- Genesis 26:1 The promises and blessings given to Abraham are continued for his son Isaac. The same Yahwist that had transmitted the episode of Abraham in Egypt (Gen 12:10-20) narrates a similar one for his son, but with greater reticence and moral sensitivity. In the idiom of the time, cousins, such as Isaac and Rebekah were, called each other brothers and sisters. The inhabitants of the area were not, properly speaking, Philistines, since the latter immigrated only later on (13th century B.C.); these inhabitants were the Canaanites, who preceded the Philistines.
- Genesis 26:20 Esek: i.e., “Challenge.”
- Genesis 26:21 Sitnah: i.e., “Opposition.”
- Genesis 26:22 Rehoboth: i.e., “Room Enough.”
- Genesis 26:33 Shibah: i.e., “Oath of Seven.” Beer-sheba: i.e., “Well of the Oath” or “Well of Seven.”
- Genesis 26:34 These verses are from the Priestly source.
Genesis 26
Good News Translation
Isaac Lives at Gerar
26 There was another famine in the land besides the earlier one during the time of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. 2 The Lord had appeared to Isaac and had said, “Do not go to Egypt; stay in this land, where I tell you to stay. 3 (A)Live here, and I will be with you and bless you. I am going to give all this territory to you and to your descendants. I will keep the promise I made to your father Abraham. 4 I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, and I will give them all this territory. All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants. 5 I will bless you, because Abraham obeyed me and kept all my laws and commands.”
6 So Isaac lived at Gerar. 7 (B)When the men there asked about his wife, he said that she was his sister. He would not admit that she was his wife, because he was afraid that the men there would kill him to get Rebecca, who was very beautiful. 8 When Isaac had been there for some time, King Abimelech looked down from his window and saw Isaac and Rebecca making love. 9 Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is your wife! Why did you say she was your sister?”
He answered, “I thought I would be killed if I said she was my wife.”
10 “What have you done to us?” Abimelech said. “One of my men might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have been responsible for our guilt.” 11 Abimelech warned all the people: “Anyone who mistreats this man or his wife will be put to death.”
12 Isaac sowed crops in that land, and that year he harvested a hundred times as much as he had sown, because the Lord blessed him. 13 He continued to prosper and became a very rich man. 14 Because he had many herds of sheep and cattle and many servants, the Philistines were jealous of him. 15 So they filled in all the wells which the servants of his father Abraham had dug while Abraham was alive.
16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave our country. You have become more powerful than we are.” 17 So Isaac left and set up his camp in Gerar Valley, where he stayed for some time. 18 He dug once again the wells which had been dug during the time of Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death. Isaac gave the wells the same names that his father had given them.
19 Isaac's servants dug a well in the valley and found water. 20 The shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's shepherds and said, “This water belongs to us.” So Isaac named the well “Quarrel.”
21 Isaac's servants dug another well, and there was a quarrel about that one also, so he named it “Enmity.” 22 He moved away from there and dug another well. There was no dispute about this one, so he named it “Freedom.” He said, “Now the Lord has given us freedom to live in the land, and we will be prosperous here.”
23 Isaac left and went to Beersheba. 24 That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid; I am with you. I will bless you and give you many descendants because of my promise to my servant Abraham.” 25 Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. Then he set up his camp there, and his servants dug another well.
The Agreement between Isaac and Abimelech
26 (C)Abimelech came from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army to see Isaac. 27 So Isaac asked, “Why have you now come to see me, when you were so unfriendly to me before and made me leave your country?”
28 They answered, “Now we know that the Lord is with you, and we think that there should be a solemn agreement between us. We want you to promise 29 that you will not harm us, just as we did not harm you. We were kind to you and let you go peacefully. Now it is clear that the Lord has blessed you.” 30 Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31 Early next morning each man made his promise and sealed it with a vow. Isaac said good-bye to them, and they parted as friends.
32 On that day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug. They said, “We have found water.” 33 He named the well “Vow.” That is how the city of Beersheba[a] got its name.
Esau's Foreign Wives
34 When Esau was forty years old, he married two Hittites, Judith the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath the daughter of Elon. 35 They made life miserable for Isaac and Rebecca.
Footnotes
- Genesis 26:33 This name in Hebrew means “Well of the Vow” or “Well of Seven” (see also 21.31).
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
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