CHAPTER 26
Now there was
another famine
in the land,
subsequent to
the one
that
had occurred
in Abraham’s
time.
And Isaac
went
to
Abimelech
king
of the Philistines
at Gerar.
The LORD
appeared
to
Isaac and said,
“Do not
go down
to Egypt.
Settle
in the land
where
I tell you.
Stay in this
land
as a foreigner,
and I will be
with
you and bless you.
For
I will give
all
these
lands
to you
and your offspring,
and I will confirm
the oath
that
I swore
to your father
Abraham.
I will make your descendants
as numerous
as the stars
in the sky,
and I will give
them
all
these
lands,
and through your offspring
all
nations
of the earth
will be blessed,
because
Abraham
listened
to My voice
and kept
My charge,
My commandments,
My statutes,
and My laws.”
But when the men
of that place
asked
about his wife,
he said,
“She
is my sister.”
For
he was afraid
to say,
“She is my wife,”
since he thought to himself,
“The men
of this place
will kill
me on account of
Rebekah,
because
she
is so beautiful.”
When
Isaac had been there
a long time,
Abimelech
king
of the Philistines
looked down
from
the window
and was surprised to see
Isaac
caressing
his wife
Rebekah.
Abimelech
sent for
Isaac
and said,
“So she
is really
your wife!
How
could you say,
‘She
is my sister’?”
Isaac
replied,
“Because
I thought
I might
die
on account of her.”
“What
is this
you have done
to us?”
Abimelech
said,
“One
of the people
could easily
have slept with
your wife,
and you would have brought
guilt
upon us.”
So Abimelech
warned
all
the people,
saying,
“Whoever harms
this
man
or his wife
will surely
be put to death.”
Now Isaac
sowed seed
in the
land,
and in that very
year
he reaped
a hundredfold.
And the LORD
blessed him,
So the Philistines
took
dirt
and stopped up
all
the wells
that
his father’s
servants
had dug
in the days
of his father
Abraham.
Isaac
reopened
the wells
that
had been dug
in the days
of his father
Abraham,
which the Philistines
had stopped up
after
Abraham
died.
And he gave
these wells
the same names
his father
had given them.
But the herdsmen
of Gerar
quarreled
with
Isaac’s
herdsmen
and said,
“The water is ours!”
So he named
the well
Esek,
because
they contended
with him.
He moved on
from there
and dug
another well,
and they did not
quarrel
over it.
He named
it
Rehoboth
and said,
“At last
the LORD
has made room
for us,
and we will be fruitful
in the land.”
and that
night
the LORD
appeared
to him
and said,
“I
am the God
of your father
Abraham.
Do not
be afraid,
for
I
am with you.
I will bless
you and multiply
your descendants
for the sake
of My servant
Abraham."
So he built
an altar
there
and called
on the name
of the LORD,
and he pitched
his tent
there.
Isaac’s
servants
also dug
a well
there.
Later, Abimelech
came
to Isaac
from Gerar,
with Ahuzzath
his adviser
and Phicol
the commander
of his army.
“We can plainly see
that
the LORD
has been
with you,”
they replied.
“We think
there should be
an oath
between two parties—
between us and you.
Let us make
a covenant
with you
that you will not
harm
us,
just as
we have not
harmed you,
and
we have done
nothing but
good
to you,
sending you on your way
in peace.
And now
you
are blessed
by the LORD.”
And they got up early
the next morning
and swore an oath
to each
other.
Then Isaac
sent them on their way,
and they left
him in peace.
On that same
day
Isaac’s
servants
came
to tell
him
about
the well
they had dug,
telling him,
“We have found
water!”
When Esau
was
forty
years old,
he took
as his wives
Judith
daughter
of Beeri
the Hittite
and Basemath
daughter
of Elon
the Hittite.