26Genesis 26

Isaac Lives at Gerar

1There 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.Select Genesis 26:1

2The Lord had appeared to Isaac and had said, “Do not go to Egypt; stay in this land, where I tell you to stay.Select Genesis 26:2

3Live 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.Select Genesis 26:3

4I 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.Select Genesis 26:4

5I will bless you, because Abraham obeyed me and kept all my laws and commands.”Select Genesis 26:5

6So Isaac lived at Gerar.Select Genesis 26:6

7When 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.Select Genesis 26:7

8When Isaac had been there for some time, King Abimelech looked down from his window and saw Isaac and Rebecca making love.Select Genesis 26:8

9Abimelech 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.”Select Genesis 26:9

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.”Select Genesis 26:10

11Abimelech warned all the people: “Anyone who mistreats this man or his wife will be put to death.”Select Genesis 26:11

12Isaac sowed crops in that land, and that year he harvested a hundred times as much as he had sown, because the Lord blessed him.Select Genesis 26:12

13He continued to prosper and became a very rich man.Select Genesis 26:13

14Because he had many herds of sheep and cattle and many servants, the Philistines were jealous of him.Select Genesis 26:14

15So they filled in all the wells which the servants of his father Abraham had dug while Abraham was alive.Select Genesis 26:15

16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave our country. You have become more powerful than we are.”Select Genesis 26:16

17So Isaac left and set up his camp in Gerar Valley, where he stayed for some time.Select Genesis 26:17

18He 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.Select Genesis 26:18

19Isaac's servants dug a well in the valley and found water.Select Genesis 26:19

20The shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's shepherds and said, “This water belongs to us.” So Isaac named the well “Quarrel.”Select Genesis 26:20

21Isaac's servants dug another well, and there was a quarrel about that one also, so he named it “Enmity.”Select Genesis 26:21

22He 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.”Select Genesis 26:22

23Isaac left and went to Beersheba.Select Genesis 26:23

24That 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.”Select Genesis 26:24

25Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. Then he set up his camp there, and his servants dug another well.Select Genesis 26:25

The Agreement between Isaac and Abimelech

26Abimelech came from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army to see Isaac.Select Genesis 26:26

27So Isaac asked, “Why have you now come to see me, when you were so unfriendly to me before and made me leave your country?”Select Genesis 26:27

28They 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 promiseSelect Genesis 26:28

29that 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.”Select Genesis 26:29

30Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank.Select Genesis 26:30

31Early next morning each man made his promise and sealed it with a vow. Isaac said good-bye to them, and they parted as friends.Select Genesis 26:31

32On that day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug. They said, “We have found water.”Select Genesis 26:32

33He named the well “Vow.” That is how the city of Beersheba got its name.Select Genesis 26:33

Esau's Foreign Wives

34When Esau was forty years old, he married two Hittites, Judith the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath the daughter of Elon.Select Genesis 26:34

35They made life miserable for Isaac and Rebecca.Select Genesis 26:35