Genesis 26

1 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],

Then, when a famine arose over the land, after that barrenness which had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Palestinians, in Gerar.

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

And the Lord appeared to him, and he said: “Do not descend into Egypt, but rest in the land that I will tell you,

3 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.

and sojourn in it, and I will be with you, and I will bless you. For to you and to your offspring I will give all these regions, completing the oath that I promised to Abraham your father.

4 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.

And I will multiply your offspring like the stars of heaven. And I will give to your posterity all these regions. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed,

5 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,”]

because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts and commandments, and observed the ceremonies and the laws.”

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

And so Isaac remained in Gerar.

7 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.”

And when he was questioned by the men of that place about his wife, he answered, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to confess her to be his mate, thinking that perhaps they would put him to death because of her beauty.

8 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.

And when very many days had passed, and he had remained in the same place, Abimelech, king of the Palestinians, gazing through a window, saw him being playful with Rebekah, his wife.

9 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.”

And summoning him, he said: “It is clear that she is your wife. Why did you falsely claim her to be your sister?” He answered, “I was afraid, lest I might die because of her.”

10 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!”

And Abimelech said: “Why have you burdened us? Someone from the people could have lain with your wife, and you would have brought a great sin upon us.” And he instructed all the people, saying,

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

“Whoever will touch the wife of this man will die a death.”

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

Then Isaac sowed in that land, and he found, in that same year, one hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him.

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

And the man was enriched, and he continued prospering as well as increasing, until he became very great.

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

Likewise, he had possessions of sheep and of herds, and a very large family. Because of this, the Palestinians envied him,

15 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.

so, at that time, they obstructed all the wells that the servants of his father Abraham had dug, filling them with soil.

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

It reached a point where Abimelech himself said to Isaac, “Move away from us, for you have become very much more powerful than we.”

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

And departing, he then went toward the torrent of Gerar, and he dwelt there.

18 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.

Again, he dug up other wells, which the servants of his father Abraham had dug, and which, after his death, the Philistines had formerly obstructed. And he called them by the same names that his father had called them before.

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

And they dug in the torrent, and they found living water.

20 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.

But in that place also the shepherds of Gerar argued against the shepherds of Isaac, by saying, “It is our water.” For this reason, he called the name of the well, because of what had happened, ‘Calumny.’

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

Then they dug up yet another one. And over that one also they fought, and he called it, ‘Enmity.’

22 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.”

Advancing from there, he dug another well, over which they did not contend. And so he called its name, ‘Latitude,’ saying, “Now the Lord has expanded us and caused us to increase across the land.”

23 From there Isaac went up to Beersheba.

Then he ascended from that place into Beersheba,

24 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.”

where the Lord appeared to him on the same night, saying: “I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you, and I will multiply your offspring because of my servant Abraham.”

25 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.

And so he built an altar there. And he invoked the name of the Lord, and he stretched out his tent. And he instructed his servants to dig a well.

26 [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.

When Abimelech, and Ahuzzath, his friend, and Phicol, the leader of the military, had arrived from Gerar to that place,

27 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?”

Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, a man whom you hate, and whom you have expelled from among you?”

28 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,

And they responded: “We saw that the Lord is with you, and therefore we said: Let there be an oath between us, and let us initiate a pact,

29 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.”

so that you may not do us any kind of harm, just as we have touched nothing of yours, and have not caused any injury to you, but with peace we released you, augmented by the blessing of the Lord.”

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

Therefore, he made them a feast, and after the food and drink,

31 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.

arising in the morning, they swore to one another. And Isaac sent them away peacefully to their own place.

32 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!”

Then, behold, on the same day the servants of Isaac came, reporting to him about a well which they had dug, and saying: “We have found water.”

33 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’].

Therefore, he called it, ‘Abundance.’ And the name of the city was established as ‘Beersheba,’ even to the present day.

34 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].

In truth, at forty years of age, Esau took wives: Judith, the daughter of Beeri, the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon, of the same place.

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

And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebekah.