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Genesis 26
Good News Translation
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).
Genesis 26
English Standard Version
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
Christian Standard Bible Anglicised
Genesis 26
Christian Standard Bible Anglicised
The Promise Reaffirmed to Isaac
26 There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time.(A) And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.(B) 2 The Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you about; 3 stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you.(C) For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring,(D) and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.(E) 4 I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed[a] by your offspring,(F) 5 because Abraham listened to me and kept my mandate, my commands, my statutes, and my instructions.’(G) 6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.
Isaac’s Deception
7 When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, ‘She is my sister,’(H) for he was afraid to say ‘my wife’, thinking,(I) ‘The men of the place will kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is a beautiful woman.’(J) 8 When Isaac had been there for some time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see[b] Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.
9 Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, ‘So she is really your wife! How could you say, “She is my sister”? ’
Isaac answered him, ‘Because I thought I might die on account of her.’
10 Then Abimelech said, ‘What have you done to us? One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.’(K) 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, ‘Whoever harms this man or his wife will certainly be put to death.’
Conflicts over Wells
12 Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped[c] a hundred times what was sown. The Lord blessed him,(L) 13 and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy. 14 He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were envious of him. 15 Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham,(M) filling them with soil. 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, ‘Leave us, for you are much too powerful for us.’[d]
17 So Isaac left there, camped in the Gerar Valley, and lived there. 18 Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. He gave them the same names his father had given them. 19 Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of spring[e] water there. 20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarrelled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, ‘The water is ours! ’ So he named the well Esek[f] because they argued with him.(N) 21 Then they dug another well and quarrelled over that one also, so he named it Sitnah.[g] 22 He moved from there and dug another, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth[h] and said, ‘For now the Lord has made space for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.’
The Lord Appears to Isaac
23 From there he went up to Beer-sheba, 24 and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham.(O) Do not be afraid, for I am with you.(P) I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of my servant Abraham.’
25 So he built an altar there,(Q) called on the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there. Isaac’s servants also dug a well there.(R)
Covenant with Abimelech
26 Now Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.(S) 27 Isaac said to them, ‘Why have you come to me? You hated me and sent me away from you.’
28 They replied, ‘We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you. We think there should be an oath between two parties – between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you: 29 you will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have done only what was good to you, sending you away in peace. You are now blessed by the Lord.’(T)
30 So he prepared a banquet for them, and they ate and drank. 31 They got up early in the morning and swore an oath to each other.[i](U) Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace. 32 On that same day Isaac’s servants came to tell him about the well they had dug, saying to him, ‘We have found water! ’(V) 33 He called it Sheba.[j] Therefore the name of the city is still Beer-sheba[k](W) today.
Esau’s Wives
34 When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hethite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hethite.(X) 35 They made life bitter[l] for Isaac and Rebekah.(Y)
Footnotes
- 26:4 Or will consider themselves blessed
- 26:8 Or and he looked and behold–
- 26:12 Lit found
- 26:16 Or are more numerous than we are
- 26:19 Lit living
- 26:20 = Argument
- 26:21 = Hostility
- 26:22 = Open Spaces
- 26:31 Lit swore, each man to his brother
- 26:33 Or Shibah
- 26:33 = Well of the Oath
- 26:35 Lit And they became bitterness of spirit
Genesis 26
New International Version
Genesis 26
New International Version
Isaac and Abimelek(A)
26 Now there was a famine in the land(B)—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines(C) in Gerar.(D) 2 The Lord appeared(E) to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt;(F) live in the land where I tell you to live.(G) 3 Stay in this land for a while,(H) and I will be with you(I) and will bless you.(J) For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands(K) and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.(L) 4 I will make your descendants(M) as numerous as the stars in the sky(N) and will give them all these lands,(O) and through your offspring[a] all nations on earth will be blessed,[b](P) 5 because Abraham obeyed me(Q) and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees(R) and my instructions.(S)” 6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.(T)
7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,(U)” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”
8 When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines(V) looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?(W)”
Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”
10 Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us?(X) One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
11 So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who harms(Y) this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”(Z)
12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold,(AA) because the Lord blessed him.(AB) 13 The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.(AC) 14 He had so many flocks and herds and servants(AD) that the Philistines envied him.(AE) 15 So all the wells(AF) that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up,(AG) filling them with earth.
16 Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us;(AH) you have become too powerful for us.(AI)”
17 So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar,(AJ) where he settled. 18 Isaac reopened the wells(AK) that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.
19 Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. 20 But the herders of Gerar quarreled(AL) with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!”(AM) So he named the well Esek,[c] because they disputed with him. 21 Then they dug another well, but they quarreled(AN) over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.[d] 22 He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth,[e](AO) saying, “Now the Lord has given us room(AP) and we will flourish(AQ) in the land.”
23 From there he went up to Beersheba.(AR) 24 That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham.(AS) Do not be afraid,(AT) for I am with you;(AU) I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants(AV) for the sake of my servant Abraham.”(AW)
25 Isaac built an altar(AX) there and called on the name of the Lord.(AY) There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.(AZ)
26 Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces.(BA) 27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?(BB)”
28 They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you;(BC) so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty(BD) with you 29 that you will do us no harm,(BE) just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.”(BF)
30 Isaac then made a feast(BG) for them, and they ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning the men swore an oath(BH) to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.
32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well(BI) they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!” 33 He called it Shibah,[f] and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.[g](BJ)
Jacob Takes Esau’s Blessing
34 When Esau was forty years old,(BK) he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.(BL) 35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.(BM)
Footnotes
- Genesis 26:4 Or seed
- Genesis 26:4 Or and all nations on earth will use the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20)
- Genesis 26:20 Esek means dispute.
- Genesis 26:21 Sitnah means opposition.
- Genesis 26:22 Rehoboth means room.
- Genesis 26:33 Shibah can mean oath or seven.
- Genesis 26:33 Beersheba can mean well of the oath and well of seven.
Good News Translation (GNT) 
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
English Standard Version (ESV) 
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
Christian Standard Bible Anglicised (CSBA)
Copyright © 2024 by Holman Bible Publishers.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.