Genesis 26

1 Then came a time of great need in the land, like that which had been before in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.

And when a famine came in the land, after that barrenness which had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Palestines to Gerara.

2 And the Lord came to him in a vision and said, Do not go down to Egypt; keep in the land of which I will give you knowledge:

And the Lord appeared to him and said: Go not down into Egypt, but stay in the land that I shall tell thee.

3 Keep in this land, and I will be with you and give you my blessing; for to you and to your seed will I give all these lands, giving effect to the oath which I made to your father Abraham;

And sojourn in it, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee: for to thee and to thy seed I will give all these countries, to fulfill the oath which I swore to Abraham thy father.

4 I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and will give them all these lands, and your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth;

And I will multiply thy seed like the stars of heaven: and I will give to thy posterity all these countries: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

5 Because Abraham gave ear to my voice and kept my words, my rules, my orders, and my laws.

Because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts and commandments, and observed my ceremonies and laws.

6 So Isaac went on living in Gerar;

So Isaac abode in Gerara.

7 And when he was questioned by the men of the place about his wife, he said, She is my sister; fearing to say, She is my wife; for, he said, the men of the place may put me to death on account of Rebekah; because she is very beautiful.

And when he was asked by the men of that place, concerning his wife, he answered: She is my sister; for he was afraid to confess that she was his wife, thinking lest perhaps they would kill him because of her beauty.

8 And when he had been there for some time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looking through a window, saw Isaac playing with Rebekah his wife.

And when very many days were passed, and he abode there, Abimelech king of the Palestines looking out through a window, saw him playing with Rebecca his wife.

9 And he said to Isaac, It is clear that she is your wife: why then did you say, She is my sister? And Isaac said, For fear that I might be put to death because of her.

And calling for him, he said: It is evident she is thy wife: why didst thou feign her to be thy sister? He answered: I feared lest I should die for her sake.

10 Then Abimelech said, What have you done to us? one of the people might well have had connection with your wife, and the sin would have been ours.

And Abimelech said: Why hast thou deceived us? Some man of the people might have lain with thy wife, and thou hadst brought upon us a great sin. And he commanded all the people, saying:

11 And Abimelech gave orders to his people that anyone touching Isaac or his wife was to be put to death.

He that shall touch this man’s wife, shall surely be put to death.

12 Now Isaac, planting seed in that land, got in the same year fruit a hundred times as much, for the blessing of the Lord was on him.

And Isaac sowed in that land, and he found that same year a hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.

13 And his wealth became very great, increasing more and more;

And the man was enriched, and he went on prospering and increasing, till he became exceeding great:

14 For he had great wealth of flocks and herds and great numbers of servants; so that the Philistines were full of envy.

And he had possessions of sheep and of herds, and a very great family. Wherefore the Palestines envying him,

15 Now all the water-holes, which his father's servants had made in the days of Abraham, had been stopped up with earth by the Philistines.

Stopped up at that time all the wells, that the servants of his father Abraham had digged, filling them up with earth:

16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go away from us, for you are stronger than we are.

Insomuch that Abimelech himself said to Isaac: Depart from us, for thou art become much mightier than we.

17 So Isaac went away from there, and put up his tents in the valley of Gerar, making his living-place there.

So he departed and came to the torrent of Gerara, to dwell there:

18 And he made again the water-holes which had been made in the days of Abraham his father, and which had been stopped up by the Philistines; and he gave them the names which his father had given them.

And he digged again other wells, which the servants of his father Abraham had digged, and which, after his death, the Palestines had of old stopped up: and he called them by the same names by which his father before had called them.

19 Now Isaac's servants made holes in the valley, and came to a spring of flowing water.

And they digged in the torrent, and found living water.

20 But the herdmen of Gerar had a fight with Isaac's herdmen, for they said, The spring is ours: so he gave the spring the name of Esek, because there was a fight about it.

But there also the herdsmen of Gerara strove against the herdsmen of Isaac, saying: It is our water. Wherefore he called the name of the well, on occasion of that which had happened, Calumny.

21 Then they made another water-hole, and there was a fight about that, so he gave it the name of Sitnah.

And they digged also another; and for that they quarrelled likewise, and he called the name of it, Enmity.

22 Then he went away from there, and made another water-hole, about which there was no fighting: so he gave it the name of Rehoboth, for he said, Now the Lord has made room for us, and we will have fruit in this land.

Going forward from thence, he digged another well, for which they contended not: therefore he called the name thereof, Latitude, saying: Now hath the Lord given us room, and made us to increase upon the earth.

23 And from there he went on to Beer-sheba.

And he went up from that place to Bersabee,

24 That night the Lord came to him in a vision, and said, I am the God of your father Abraham: have no fear for I am with you, blessing you, and your seed will be increased because of my servant Abraham.

Where the Lord appeared to him that same night, saying: I am the God of Abraham thy father; do not fear, for I am with thee: I will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.

25 Then he made an altar there, and gave worship to the name of the Lord, and he put up his tents there, and there his servants made a water-hole.

And he built there an altar: and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent: and commanded his servants to dig a well.

26 And Abimelech had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his friend and Phicol, the captain of his army.

To which place when Abimelech, and Ochozath his friend, and Phicol chief captain of his soldiers came from Gerara,

27 And Isaac said to them, Why have you come to me, seeing that in your hate for me you sent me away from you?

Isaac said to them: Why are ye come to me, a man whom you hate, and have thrust out from you?

28 And they said, We saw clearly that the Lord was with you: so we said, Let there be an oath between us and you, and let us make an agreement with you;

And they answered: We saw that the Lord is with thee, and therefore we said: Let there be an oath between us, and let us make a covenant,

29 That you will do us no damage, even as we put no hand on you, and did you nothing but good, and sent you away in peace: and now the blessing of the Lord is on you.

That thou do us no harm, as we on our part have touched nothing of thine, nor have done any thing to hurt thee: but with peace have sent thee away increased with the blessing of the Lord.

30 Then he made a feast for them, and they all had food and drink.

And he made them a feast, and after they had eaten and drunk:

31 And early in the morning they took an oath one to the other: then Isaac sent them away and they went on their way in peace.

Arising in the morning, they swore one to another: and Isaac sent them away peaceably to their own home.

32 And that day Isaac's servants came to him and gave him word of the water-hole which they had made, and said to him, We have come to water.

And behold the same day the servants of Isaac came, telling him of a well which they had digged, and saying: We have found water.

33 And he gave it the name of Shibah: so the name of that town is Beer-sheba to this day.

Whereupon he called it Abundance: and the name of the city was called Bersabee, even to this day.

34 And when Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite:

And Esau being forty years old, married wives, Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hethite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon of the same place.

35 And Isaac and Rebekah had grief of mind because of them.

And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebecca.