Genesis 26

1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.

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 God appeared to him, and said, "Do not go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about.

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 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you, and to your descendants, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your 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 I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the sky, and will give to your descendants all these lands, and by your descendants will 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 requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my 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 settled in Gerar.

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

7 The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "My wife," lest, he thought, "the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at."

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 It happened, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and look, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, 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 Abimelech called Isaac, and said, "Look, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, 'She is my sister?'" Isaac said to him, "Because I thought, 'Lest I die because of her.'"

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 Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us."

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 Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife will 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 Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. And God blessed him.

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

13 The man became wealthy, and prospered more and more until he became very wealthy.

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

14 He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him.

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

15 Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled 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 Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go from us, for you are 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 Isaac departed from there, camped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.

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

18 Isaac dug again the wells which the servants of his father Abraham had dug. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. And he called their names after the names by which his father 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 Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of flowing water.

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

20 The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." He called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.

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 They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. He called its name Sitnah.

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 He left that place, and dug another well. They did not argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, "For now God has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land."

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 He went up from there to Beersheba.

From there Isaac went up to Beersheba.

24 And God appeared to him the same night, and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your descendants 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 He built an altar there, and called on the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac's servants dug 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 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the commander of his army.

[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 have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away 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 They said, "We saw plainly that God was with you. We said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you,

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 you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.' You are now the blessed of God."

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 He made them a feast, and they ate and drank.

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

31 They rose up some time in the morning, and swore an oath to each other. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

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 It happened the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, "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 He called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba 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 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hethite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hethite.

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 They brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

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