Genesis 26

1 And there is a famine in the land, besides the first famine which was in the days of Abraham, and Isaac goeth unto 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 Jehovah appeareth unto him, and saith, 'Go not down towards Egypt, tabernacle in the land concerning which I speak unto 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 sojourn in this land, and I am with thee, and bless thee, for to thee and to thy seed I give all these lands, and I have established the oath which I have sworn 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 have multiplied thy seed as stars of the heavens, and I have given to thy seed all these lands; and blessed themselves in thy seed have all nations of the earth;

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 that Abraham hath hearkened to My voice, and keepeth My charge, My commands, 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 And Isaac dwelleth in Gerar;

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

7 and men of the place ask him of his wife, and he saith, 'She [is] my sister:' for he hath been afraid to say, 'My wife — lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, for she [is] of good appearance.'

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 it cometh to pass, when the days have been prolonged to him there, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looketh through the window, and seeth, and lo, Isaac is playing with 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 And Abimelech calleth for Isaac, and saith, 'Lo, she [is] surely thy wife; and how hast thou said, She [is] my sister?' and Isaac saith unto him, 'Because I said, Lest I die for 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 And Abimelech saith, 'What [is] this thou hast done to us? as a little thing one of the people had lain with thy wife, and thou hadst brought upon us guilt;'

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 and Abimelech commandeth all the people, saying, 'He who cometh against this man or against his wife, dying doth die.'

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 soweth in that land, and findeth in that year a hundredfold, and Jehovah blesseth him;

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

13 and the man is great, and goeth on, going on and becoming great, till that he hath been very great,

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

14 and he hath possession of a flock, and possession of a herd, and an abundant service; and the Philistines envy him,

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

15 and all the wells which his father's servants digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines have stopped them, and fill them with dust.

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 And Abimelech saith unto Isaac, 'Go from us; for thou hast 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 and Isaac goeth from thence, and encampeth in the valley of Gerar, and dwelleth there;

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

18 and Isaac turneth back, and diggeth the wells of water which they digged in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines do stop after the death of Abraham, and he calleth to them names according to the names which his father 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 Isaac's servants dig in the valley, and find there a well of living water,

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

20 and shepherds of Gerar strive with shepherds of Isaac, saying, 'The water [is] ours;' and he calleth the name of the well 'Strife,' because they have striven habitually 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 and they dig another well, and they strive also for it, and he calleth its name 'Hatred.'

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 And he removeth from thence, and diggeth another well, and they have not striven for it, and he calleth its name Enlargements, and saith, 'For — now hath Jehovah given enlargement to us, and we have been 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 And he goeth up from thence [to] Beer-Sheba,

From there Isaac went up to Beersheba.

24 and Jehovah appeareth unto him during that night, and saith, 'I [am] the God of Abraham thy father, fear not, for I [am] with thee, and have blessed thee, and have multiplied thy seed, because of Abraham My servant;'

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 buildeth there an altar, and preacheth in the name of Jehovah, and stretcheth out there his tent, and there Isaac's servants 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 And Abimelech hath gone unto him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phichol head of his host;

[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 and Isaac saith unto them, 'Wherefore have ye come unto me, and ye have hated me, and ye send 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 And they say, 'We have certainly seen that Jehovah hath been with thee, and we say, 'Let there be, we pray thee, an oath between us, between us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;

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 do not evil with us, as we have not touched thee, and as we have only done good with thee, and send thee away in peace; thou [art] now blessed of Jehovah.'

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 maketh for them a banquet, and they eat and drink,

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

31 and rise early in the morning, and swear one to another, and Isaac sendeth them away, and they go 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 And it cometh to pass during that day that Isaac's servants come and declare to him concerning the circumstances of the well which they have digged, and say 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 and he calleth it Shebah, [oath, ] therefore the name of the city [is] Beer-Sheba, [well of the oath, ] unto 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 is a son of forty years, and he taketh a wife, Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite,

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 are a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.

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