< Genesis 26 >
1 And there is a famine in the land, besides the first famine which was in the days of Abraham, and Isaac goes to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to 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 YHWH appears to him and says, “Do not go down toward Egypt, dwell in the land concerning which I speak to you,
And the Lord appeared to him and said: Go not down into Egypt, but stay in the land that I shall tell thee.
3 sojourn in this land, and I am with you, and bless you, for to you and to your seed I give all these lands, and I have established the oath which I have sworn 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 and I have multiplied your seed as stars of the heavens, and I have given to your seed all these lands; and all nations of the earth have blessed themselves in your Seed;
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 that Abraham has listened to My voice, and keeps My charge, My commands, My statutes, and My laws.”
Because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts and commandments, and observed my ceremonies and laws.
6 And Isaac dwells in Gerar;
So Isaac abode in Gerara.
7 and men of the place ask him of his wife, and he says, “She [is] my sister”: for he has been afraid to say, “My wife—lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, for she [is] of good appearance.”
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 it comes to pass, when the days have been prolonged to him there, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looks through the window, and sees, and behold, Isaac is playing with his wife Rebekah.
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 Abimelech calls for Isaac and says, “Behold, she [is] surely your wife; and how could you have said, She [is] my sister?” And Isaac says to him, “Because I said, Lest I die for 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 And Abimelech says, “What [is] this you have done to us? As a little thing one of the people had lain with your wife, and you had brought on us guilt”;
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 commands all the people, saying, “He who comes against this man or against his wife, dying does die.”
He that shall touch this man’s wife, shall surely be put to death.
12 And Isaac sows in that land, and finds in that year a hundredfold, and YHWH blesses him;
And Isaac sowed in that land, and he found that same year a hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.
13 and the man is great, and goes on, going on and becoming great, until he has been very great,
And the man was enriched, and he went on prospering and increasing, till he became exceeding great:
14 and he has possession of a flock, and possession of a herd, and an abundant service; and the Philistines envy him,
And he had possessions of sheep and of herds, and a very great family. Wherefore the Palestines envying him,
15 and all the wells which his father’s servants dug in the days of his father Abraham, the Philistines have stopped them, and fill them with dust.
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 says to Isaac, “Go from us; for you have become much mightier than we”;
Insomuch that Abimelech himself said to Isaac: Depart from us, for thou art become much mightier than we.
17 and Isaac goes from there, and encamps in the Valley of Gerar, and dwells there;
So he departed and came to the torrent of Gerara, to dwell there:
18 and Isaac turns back, and digs the wells of water which they dug in the days of his father Abraham, which the Philistines have stopped after the death of Abraham, and he calls to them names according to the names which his father called 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 And Isaac’s servants dig in the valley, and find there a well of living water,
And they digged in the torrent, and found living water.
20 and shepherds of Gerar strive with shepherds of Isaac, saying, “The water [is] ours”; and he calls the name of the well “Strife,” because they have striven habitually with him;
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 and they dig another well, and they strive also for it, and he calls its name “Hatred.”
And they digged also another; and for that they quarrelled likewise, and he called the name of it, Enmity.
22 And he removes from there, and digs another well, and they have not striven for it, and he calls its name “Enlargements,” and says, “For—now has YHWH given enlargement to us, and we have been fruitful in the 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 he goes up from there [to] Beer-Sheba,
And he went up from that place to Bersabee,
24 and YHWH appears to him during that night and says, “I [am] the God of your father Abraham, do not fear, for I [am] with you, and have blessed you, and have multiplied your seed, 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 and he builds there an altar, and preaches in the Name of YHWH, and stretches out there his tent, and there Isaac’s servants dig a well.
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 has gone to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phichol head of his host;
To which place when Abimelech, and Ochozath his friend, and Phicol chief captain of his soldiers came from Gerara,
27 and Isaac says to them, “Why have you come to me, and you have hated me, and you send 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 say, “We have certainly seen that YHWH has been with you, and we say, Now let there be an oath between us, between us and you, and let us make a covenant 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 do no evil with us, as we have not touched you, and as we have only done good with you, and send you away in peace; you [are] now blessed of YHWH.”
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 And he makes a banquet for them, and they eat and drink,
And he made them a feast, and after they had eaten and drunk:
31 and rise early in the morning, and swear to one another, and Isaac sends them away, and they go from him in peace.
Arising in the morning, they swore one to another: and Isaac sent them away peaceably to their own home.
32 And it comes to pass during that day that Isaac’s servants come and declare to him concerning the circumstances of the well which they have dug, and say to him, “We have found 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 calls it Shebah, [oath, ] therefore the name of the city [is] Beer-Sheba, [Well of the Oath, ] to this day.
Whereupon he called it Abundance: and the name of the city was called Bersabee, even to this day.
34 And Esau is a son of forty years, and he takes a wife, Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath, 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 they are a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.
And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebecca.