So Isaac lived in Gerar. When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “(A)She is my sister,” for he was (B)afraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “[a]the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is (C)beautiful.” Now it came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down through a window, and saw them, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah. Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she certainly is your wife! So how is it that you said, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘otherwise I might be killed on account of her.’” 10 And (D)Abimelech said, “What is this that you have done to us? One of the people might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who (E)touches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death.”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 26:7 Lit lest...place

So Isaac lived in Gerar.

Isaac Lies about His Wife

Later on, the men of that place asked about his wife, so he replied, “She’s my sister,” because he was afraid to call her “my wife.” He kept thinking, “…otherwise, the men around here will kill me on account of Rebekah, since she’s very beautiful.”

After he had been there awhile, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out through a window and saw Isaac caressing[a] his wife Rebekah.

So Abimelech called Isaac and confronted him. “She is definitely your wife!” he accused him, “So why did you claim, ‘She’s my sister?’”

Isaac responded, “Because I had thought ‘…otherwise, I’ll die on account of her.’”

10 “What have you done to us?” Abimelech asked. “Any minute now, one of the people could have had sex with your wife and you would have caused all of us to be guilty.” 11 So he issued this order to everyone: “Whoever touches this man or his wife is to be executed.”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 26:8 Or fondling; the Heb. verb is a word play on the name Isaac and sounds like it.