Chapter 26 And there was a famine in the land beside the first famine that was in
the days of Abraham.
And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.
And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt.
Dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of.
Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee.
For unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries.
And I will perform the oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father.
And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto
thy seed all these countries.
And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because that Abraham
obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
And Isaac dwelt in Gerar.
And the men of the place asked him of his wife, and he said, She is my sister.
For he feared to say, She is my wife.
Lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah, because she was fair
to look upon.
And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of
the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was sporting
with Rebekah his wife.
And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold of a surety, she is thy wife.
And how saidst thou, She is my sister?
And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.
And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us?
One of the people might lightly have line with thy wife, and thou shouldst have
brought guiltiness upon us.
And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man,
or his wife, shall surely be put to death.
Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an
hundredfold.
And the Lord blessed him.
And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great.
For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store
of servants.
And the Philistines envied him.
For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham
his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.
And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us, for thou art much mightier
than we.
And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt
there.
And Isaac digged again the wells of water which they had digged in the days of
Abraham his father.
For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham.
And he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is
ours.
And he called the name of the well Isaac, because they strove with him.
And they digged another well, and strove for that also.
And he called the name of it Sidna.
And he removed from thence, and digged another well.
And for that they strove not.
And he called the name of it Rehoboth.
And he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in
the land.
And he went up from thence to Beersheba.
And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham
thy father.
Fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my
servant Abraham's sake.
And he builded and altered there, and called upon the name of the Lord,
and pitched his tent there.
And there Isaac's servants digged a well.
Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahazath one of his friends,
and Phicol the chief captain of his army.
And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent
me away from you?
And they said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee.
And we said, let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee,
and let us make a covenant with thee, that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have
not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee
away in peace.
Thou art now the blessed of the Lord.
And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.
And they rose up betimes in the morning, and swear one to another.
And Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him
concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water.
And he called it Sheba.
Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.
And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the
Hittite, and Bashamath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, which were a grief of
mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.