Genesis 26

1 And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.

2 And Jehovah appeared to him, and said, Do not go down into Egypt. Dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of.

3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee. For to thee, and to thy seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham thy father.

4 And I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and will give to thy seed all these lands, and in thy seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,

5 because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my order, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

7 And the men of the place asked him of his wife. And he said, She is my sister. For he feared to say, My wife, Lest, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah, because she was fair to look upon.

8 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 playing with Rebekah his wife.

9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, she is certainly thy wife, and how did thou say, She is my sister? And Isaac said to him, Because I said, Lest I die because of her.

10 And Abimelech said, What is this thou have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with thy wife, and thou would have brought guiltiness upon us.

11 And Abimelech ordered all the people, saying, He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

12 And Isaac sowed in that land, and found in the same year a hundredfold. And Jehovah blessed him.

13 And the man became great, and grew more and more until he became very great.

14 And he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and a great household. And the Philistines envied him.

15 Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with soil.

16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go from us, for thou are much mightier than we.

17 And Isaac departed from there, and encamped in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

18 And Isaac again dug the wells of water, which they had dug 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.

19 And Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

20 And the herdsmen of Gerar strove with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, The water is ours. And he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.

21 And they dug another well, and they strove for that also. And he called the name of it Sitnah.

22 And he moved from there, and dug another well, and they did not strive for that. And he called the name of it Rehoboth. And he said, For now Jehovah has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

23 And he went up from there to Beersheba.

24 And Jehovah appeared to 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.

25 And he built an altar there, and called upon the name of Jehovah, and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well.

26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army.

27 And Isaac said to them, Why have ye come to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?

28 And they said, We saw plainly that Jehovah was with thee. And we said, Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and thee. And let us make a covenant with thee,

29 that thou will do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done to thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace. Thou are now the blessed of Jehovah.

30 And he made a feast for them, and they ate and drank.

31 And they rose up promptly in the morning, and swore one to another. And Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

32 And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, We have found water.

33 And he called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

34 And when Esau was forty years old he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

35 And they were a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.