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.

There was a famine in the country—not the one that happened before in Abraham's time, but a later one. So Isaac moved to Gerar in the territory of Abimelech, king of the Philistines.

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:

The Lord appeared to Isaac and told him, “Don't go to Egypt—live in the country that I tell you to.

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;

Stay here in this country. I will be with you and I will bless you, because I'm going to give you and your descendants all these lands. I will keep the solemn promise that I swore to Abraham your 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;

I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and I will give them all these lands. All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your descendants,

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

because Abraham did what I told him, and kept my requirements, my commands, my regulations, and my laws.”

6 So Isaac went on living in Gerar;

So Isaac stayed in Gerar.

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.

When the men there asked him about his wife, he told them, “She's my sister,” because he was afraid. He said to himself, “If I say she's my wife, the men here will kill me to get Rebekah, because she's so beautiful.”

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.

But later on, after he'd been there a while, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, happened to look out the window and saw Isaac lovingly fondling his wife Rebekah.

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.

Abimelech sent for Isaac and complained. “From what I saw she's clearly your wife!” he said. “Why on earth did you say, ‘She's my sister’?” “Because I thought I'd be killed because of her,” Isaac replied.

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.

“Why would you do this to us?” Abimelech asked. “One of the men here might have slept with your wife, and you would have made us all guilty!”

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

Abimelech issued orders to all the people, warning them, “Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be executed.”

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.

Isaac sowed grain that year, and the Lord blessed him with a harvest that was a hundred times what he planted.

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

He became a rich man, and his wealth steadily increased until he was very rich.

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

He owned many flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, as well as many slaves. He had so much that the Philistines became jealous of 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.

So the Philistines used dirt to block up all the wells his father Abraham's servants had dug.

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

Then Abimelech told Isaac, “You have to leave our country, because you've become much too powerful for us.”

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

So Isaac moved away and set up his tents in the Gerar Valley where he settled down.

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.

He unblocked the wells that had been dug in his father Abraham's time—the ones the Philistines had blocked after the death of Abraham. He gave them the same names his father had.

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

Isaac's servants also dug a new well in the valley and found spring 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 the herdsmen from Gerar argued with Isaac's herdsmen, claiming, “That's our water!” So Isaac named the well, “Argument,” because they argued with him.

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

He had another well dug, and they argued over that one too. He named the well, “Opposition.”

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.

So they moved on from there and he had another well dug. This time there was no argument so he named the well, “Freedom,” saying, “Now the Lord has given us freedom to expand and be successful in this land.”

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

From there he moved on to Beersheba.

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.

That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Don't be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and give you many descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

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.

Isaac built an altar and worshiped the Lord. He also set up his tent, and his servants dug a well there.

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

Sometime later Abimelech came from Gerar to see Isaac, along with Ahuzzath his advisor, and Phicol the commander of his army.

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?

“Why have you come to see me?” Isaac asked them. “Previously you hated me and told me to leave!”

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;

“Now we realize that the Lord is with you,” they replied. “So we agreed that we should make a sworn agreement with you.

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.

You'll promise not to harm us in the same way we've never hurt you. You'll agree that we've always treated you well, and when we asked you to leave we did so kindly. Now look at how the Lord is blessing you!”

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

So Isaac had a special meal prepared to celebrate the agreement. They ate and drank,

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.

and got up early in the morning and they each swore oaths to one other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left in peace.

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.

It was that very day when Isaac's servants who'd been digging a well came and told him, “We've found water!”

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

So Isaac named the well, “Oath,” and that's why the name of the town is “Well of the Oath” (Beersheba) 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:

When Esau was 40, he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, as well as Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite.

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

They caused Isaac and Rebekah a great deal of grief.