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 there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham; and Isaac went unto Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, unto Gerar.

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 unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of.

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;

Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, will I give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swore unto 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 cause thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and I will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves.

5 because that Abraham has listened to My voice, and keeps My charge, My commands, My statutes, and My laws.”

Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

6 And Isaac dwells in Gerar;

And Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

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 the men of the place asked [him] concerning his wife; and he said, She is my sister; for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, [said he, ] the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah, because she is of a handsome appearance.

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 it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, looked out at a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah 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 Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I thought, Perhaps I may die for her.

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, What is this thou hast done unto us? How easily might one of the people have lain with thy wife, and thou wouldst have brought guiltiness upon us.

11 and Abimelech commands all the people, saying, “He who comes against this man or against his wife, dying does die.”

And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his 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;

Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundred-fold: so 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 became great, and went forward and grew, until he became very 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 possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants; and the Philistines envied 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.

And all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, these the Philistines stopped, and filled them with earth.

16 And Abimelech says to Isaac, “Go from us; for you have become much mightier than we”;

And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go away from us; for thou hast become much mightier than we.

17 and Isaac goes from there, and encamps in the Valley of Gerar, and dwells there;

And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt 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 Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and which the Philistines had stopped 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 dig in the valley, and find there a well of living water,

And the servants of Isaac dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing 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;

And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Essek; because they strove with him.

21 and they dig another well, and they strive also for it, and he calls its name “Hatred.”

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

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.”

And he removed from there, and dug another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rechoboth, and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall increase in the land.

23 And he goes up from there [to] Beer-Sheba,

And he went up from there to Beer-sheba.

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”;

And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father; fear not, for I am with thee, and I will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for the sake of Abraham my servant.

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 there his tent: and the servants of Isaac dug there a well.

26 And Abimelech has gone to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phichol head of his host;

Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Achuzzath his friend, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.

27 and Isaac says to them, “Why have you come to me, and you have hated me, and you send me away from you?”

And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing that ye do hate me, and have sent me away 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 said, We saw clearly that the Lord was with thee; and we said, Let there be now an oath between us and thee; and we will make a covenant with thee;

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 shalt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now one blessed of the Lord.

30 And he makes a banquet for them, and they eat and drink,

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

31 and rise early in the morning, and swear to one another, and Isaac sends them away, and they go from him in peace.

And they rose up betimes in the morning, and they swore one to the other; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

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 it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and they said unto him, 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.

And he called it Shibah: therefore is the name of the city Beer-sheba unto 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 when Esau was forty years old he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri, the Hittite, and Bahsemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

35 and they are a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.

And they were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.