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26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.(A) 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?”(B) 28 They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you, so we say, let there be an oath between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you(C) 29 so 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. 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 exchanged oaths, and Isaac set them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.(D) 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;[a] therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba[b] to this day.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. 26.33 In Heb Shibah resembles the word for oath
  2. 26.33 That is, well of the oath or well of seven

Isaac’s Covenant with Abimelech

26 One day King Abimelech came from Gerar with his adviser, Ahuzzath, and also Phicol, his army commander. 27 “Why have you come here?” Isaac asked. “You obviously hate me, since you kicked me off your land.”

28 They replied, “We can plainly see that the Lord is with you. So we want to enter into a sworn treaty with you. Let’s make a covenant. 29 Swear that you will not harm us, just as we have never troubled you. We have always treated you well, and we sent you away from us in peace. And now look how the Lord has blessed you!”

30 So Isaac prepared a covenant feast to celebrate the treaty, and they ate and drank together. 31 Early the next morning, they each took a solemn oath not to interfere with each other. Then Isaac sent them home again, and they left him in peace.

32 That very day Isaac’s servants came and told him about a new well they had dug. “We’ve found water!” they exclaimed. 33 So Isaac named the well Shibah (which means “oath”). And to this day the town that grew up there is called Beersheba (which means “well of the oath”).

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