בראשית 26
| ויהי רעב בארץ מלבד הרעב הראשון אשר היה בימי אברהם וילך יצחק אל אבימלך מלך פלשתים גררה׃ | 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],
| וירא אליו יהוה ויאמר אל תרד מצרימה שכן בארץ אשר אמר אליך׃ | 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!
| גור בארץ הזאת ואהיה עמך ואברכך כי לך ולזרעך אתן את כל הארצת האל והקמתי את השבעה אשר נשבעתי לאברהם אביך׃ | 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.
| והרביתי את זרעך ככוכבי השמים ונתתי לזרעך את כל הארצת האל והתברכו בזרעך כל גויי הארץ׃ | 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.
| עקב אשר שמע אברהם בקלי וישמר משמרתי מצותי חקותי ותורתי׃ | 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,”]
| וישב יצחק בגרר׃ | 6 |
[so Isaac] stayed there [along with his wife and sons].
| וישאלו אנשי המקום לאשתו ויאמר אחתי הוא כי ירא לאמר אשתי פן יהרגני אנשי המקום על רבקה כי טובת מראה היא׃ | 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.”
| ויהי כי ארכו לו שם הימים וישקף אבימלך מלך פלשתים בעד החלון וירא והנה יצחק מצחק את רבקה אשתו׃ | 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.
| ויקרא אבימלך ליצחק ויאמר אך הנה אשתך הוא ואיך אמרת אחתי הוא ויאמר אליו יצחק כי אמרתי פן אמות עליה׃ | 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.”
| ויאמר אבימלך מה זאת עשית לנו כמעט שכב אחד העם את אשתך והבאת עלינו אשם׃ | 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!”
| ויצו אבימלך את כל העם לאמר הנגע באיש הזה ובאשתו מות יומת׃ | 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!”
| ויזרע יצחק בארץ ההוא וימצא בשנה ההוא מאה שערים ויברכהו יהוה׃ | 12 |
Isaac planted grain in that land that year, and he harvested a very large crop, because Yahweh blessed him.
| ויגדל האיש וילך הלוך וגדל עד כי גדל מאד׃ | 13 |
Isaac continued to acquire more and more possessions, until finally he became very wealthy.
| ויהי לו מקנה צאן ומקנה בקר ועבדה רבה ויקנאו אתו פלשתים׃ | 14 |
He had large herds of sheep and goats and cattle, and many slaves. Because of that, the Philistine people envied him.
| וכל הבארת אשר חפרו עבדי אביו בימי אברהם אביו סתמום פלשתים וימלאום עפר׃ | 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.
| ויאמר אבימלך אל יצחק לך מעמנו כי עצמת ממנו מאד׃ | 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.”
| וילך משם יצחק ויחן בנחל גרר וישב שם׃ | 17 |
So Isaac [and his family] moved from there. They set up their tents in Gerar Valley [and started to live there].
| וישב יצחק ויחפר את בארת המים אשר חפרו בימי אברהם אביו ויסתמום פלשתים אחרי מות אברהם ויקרא להן שמות כשמת אשר קרא להן אביו׃ | 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.
| ויחפרו עבדי יצחק בנחל וימצאו שם באר מים חיים׃ | 19 |
Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water.
| ויריבו רעי גרר עם רעי יצחק לאמר לנו המים ויקרא שם הבאר עשק כי התעשקו עמו׃ | 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.
| ויחפרו באר אחרת ויריבו גם עליה ויקרא שמה שטנה׃ | 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]’.
| ויעתק משם ויחפר באר אחרת ולא רבו עליה ויקרא שמה רחבות ויאמר כי עתה הרחיב יהוה לנו ופרינו בארץ׃ | 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.”
| ויעל משם באר שבע׃ | 23 |
From there Isaac went up to Beersheba.
| וירא אליו יהוה בלילה ההוא ויאמר אנכי אלהי אברהם אביך אל תירא כי אתך אנכי וברכתיך והרביתי את זרעך בעבור אברהם עבדי׃ | 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.”
| ויבן שם מזבח ויקרא בשם יהוה ויט שם אהלו ויכרו שם עבדי יצחק באר׃ | 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.
| ואבימלך הלך אליו מגרר ואחזת מרעהו ופיכל שר צבאו׃ | 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.
| ויאמר אלהם יצחק מדוע באתם אלי ואתם שנאתם אתי ותשלחוני מאתכם׃ | 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?”
| ויאמרו ראו ראינו כי היה יהוה עמך ונאמר תהי נא אלה בינותינו בינינו ובינך ונכרתה ברית עמך׃ | 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,
| אם תעשה עמנו רעה כאשר לא נגענוך וכאשר עשינו עמך רק טוב ונשלחך בשלום אתה עתה ברוך יהוה׃ | 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.”
| ויעש להם משתה ויאכלו וישתו׃ | 30 |
So Isaac made a feast for them, and they all ate and drank.
| וישכימו בבקר וישבעו איש לאחיו וישלחם יצחק וילכו מאתו בשלום׃ | 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.
| ויהי ביום ההוא ויבאו עבדי יצחק ויגדו לו על אדות הבאר אשר חפרו ויאמרו לו מצאנו מים׃ | 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!”
| ויקרא אתה שבעה על כן שם העיר באר שבע עד היום הזה׃ | 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’].
| ויהי עשו בן ארבעים שנה ויקח אשה את יהודית בת בארי החתי ואת בשמת בת אילן החתי׃ | 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].
| ותהיין מרת רוח ליצחק ולרבקה׃ | 35 |
Esau’s two wives made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah.
