Genesis 26

1 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.

Some time later there was a severe (famine/scarcity of food) there. That was different from the famine that occurred when Abraham was alive. So Isaac went [southeast] to Gerar [town, to talk] to Abimelech, the king of the Philistine people-group. [What happened was this: Isaac considered going to Egypt],

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

but Yahweh appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt! Live in the land where I will tell you to go!

3 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.

Stay in this land for a while, and I will help you and bless you, because it is to you and your descendants that I will give all these lands, and I will do what I solemnly promised to your father.

4 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.

I will cause your descendants to be as numerous as the stars in the sky. I will give to your descendants all these lands, and I will cause your descendants to be a blessing to the people of [MTY] all nations on the earth.

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

I will do that because your father Abraham obeyed me. He obeyed everything that I told him to do, everything that I declared and all the laws that I gave him.” So Isaac [went and asked King Abimelech if he would permit him to live in the Gerar area. The king said, “Okay,”]

6 So Isaac abode in Gerara.

[so Isaac] stayed there [along with his wife and sons].

7 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.

When the men in Gerar [town] asked who Rebekah was, Isaac said, “She is my sister.” He said that because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “Rebekah is very beautiful, so they will want her. [If I say that she is my sister, they know they will have to negotiate about a bride price because I am her older brother; but if I say that she is my wife, no negotiation will be possible]. They will just kill me to get her.”

8 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.

When Isaac had been there a long time, one day Abimelech, the king of the Philistine people-group, looked down from a window [in his palace] and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

9 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.

So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said to him, “Now I realize that she is really your wife! So why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied to him, “I said that because I thought that someone here might kill me to get her.”

10 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:

Abimelech said, “(You should not have done this to us!/Why did you do this?) [RHQ] One of our people might have (had sex with/slept with) [EUP] your wife, and you would have caused us to be guilty of a great sin!”

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

Then Abimelech commanded all his people, saying, “Do not harm/molest this man or his wife! Anyone who does that will surely be executed!”

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

Isaac planted grain in that land that year, and he harvested a very large crop, because Yahweh blessed him.

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

Isaac continued to acquire more and more possessions, until finally he became very wealthy.

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

He had large herds of sheep and goats and cattle, and many slaves. Because of that, the Philistine people envied him.

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

So all the wells that the servants of his father Abraham had dug during the time when he was alive, the people filled up with dirt.

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

Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “You people have become more numerous than we are, so I want you to get out of our area.”

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

So Isaac [and his family] moved from there. They set up their tents in Gerar Valley [and started to live there].

18 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.

There were several wells in that area that had been dug when Isaac’s father Abraham was living, but Philistine people had filled them up [with dirt] after Abraham died. Now Isaac and his servants removed the dirt, and Isaac gave the wells the same names that his father had given to them.

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

Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water.

20 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.

But other men who lived in Gerar [Valley] who took care of their animals argued/quarreled with the men who took care of Isaac’s animals, and said, “The water in this well is ours!” So Isaac named the well Esek, which means ‘dispute’, because they disputed about who owned it.

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

Then Isaac’s servants dug another well, but they quarreled about who owned that one also. So Isaac named it Sitnah, [which means ‘opposition]’.

22 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.

They moved on from there and dug another well, but this time no one quarreled about who owned it. So Isaac named it Rehoboth, [which means ‘uninhabited place’], saying, “Yahweh has given us an uninhabited place to live in, a place that is not wanted by other people, and we will become very prosperous here.”

23 And he went up from that place to Bersabee,

From there Isaac went up to Beersheba.

24 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.

The first night that he was there, Yahweh appeared to him and said, “I am God, whom your father Abraham worshiped. Do not be afraid of anything. I will help you and bless you, and because of what I promised my servant Abraham, I will greatly increase the number of your descendants.”

25 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.

So Isaac built a stone altar there [and offered a sacrifice] to worship Yahweh. He [and his servants] set up their tents there, and his servants started to dig a well.

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

[While they were digging the well], King Abimelech came to Isaac from Gerar, along with Ahuzzath, his advisor, and Phicol, the commander of his army.

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

Isaac asked them, “You (acted in a hostile way toward me/treated me like an enemy) before, and sent me away. So why have you come to me now?”

28 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,

One of them answered, “We have seen that Yahweh helps you. So we said to each other, ‘We should have an agreement between us and you. We should make a peace treaty with you,

29 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.

stating that you will not harm us, in the same way that we did not molest [EUP] you.’ We always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now Yahweh is blessing you.”

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

So Isaac made a feast for them, and they all ate and drank.

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

Early the next morning they all (swore/solemnly promised) each other that they would do what they had promised. Then Isaac sent them home peacefully.

32 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.

That day Isaac’s servants came to him and told him about the well that they had finished digging. They said, “We found water in the well!”

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

Isaac named the well Shibah, [which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘oath’]. To the present time the town there has the name Beersheba [which means ‘Friendship Agreement Well’].

34 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.

When Esau was 40 years old, he married Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon. Both of those women were descendants of Heth, [not from Isaac’s clan].

35 And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebecca.

Esau’s two wives made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah.