Isaac Settles in Gerar

1Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3Live for a time in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your [a]descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4I will multiply your [b]descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your [c]descendants all these lands; and by your [d]descendants all the nations of the earth [e]shall be blessed, 5because Abraham [f]obeyed Me and fulfilled his duty to Me, and kept My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

6So Isaac lived in Gerar. 7When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “[g]the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is beautiful.” 8Now it came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down through a window, and saw them, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah. 9Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she certainly is your wife! So how is it that you said, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘otherwise I might be killed on account of her.’” 10And Abimelech said, “What is this that you have done to us? One of the people might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11So Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death.”

12Now Isaac sowed in that land and [h]reaped in the same year a hundred times as much. And the LORD blessed him, 13and the man became rich, and continued to grow [i]richer until he became very [j]wealthy; 14for he had possessions of flocks [k]and herds, and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. 15Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up [l]by filling them with dirt. 16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are [m]too powerful for us.” 17So Isaac departed from there and camped in the Valley of Gerar, and [n]settled there.

Argument over the Wells

18Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which [o]had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he [p]gave them the same names which his father had [q]given them. 19But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of [r]flowing water, 20the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well [s]Esek, because they argued with him. 21Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it [t]Sitnah. 22Then he moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it [u]Rehoboth, for he said, “[v]At last the LORD has made [w]room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

23And he went up from there to Beersheba. 24And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said,

“I am the God of your father Abraham;

Do not fear, for I am with you.

I will bless you and multiply your [x]descendants,

For the sake of My servant Abraham.” 25So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

Covenant with Abimelech

26Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar [y]with his adviser Ahuzzath, and Phicol the commander of his army. 27Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28They said, “We have seen plainly that the LORD has been with you; so we said, ‘An oath must now be taken [z]by us,’ that is, [aa]by you and us. So let us make a covenant with you, 29that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you [ab]and have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.” 30Then he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31In the morning they got up early and [ac]exchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away, and they left him in peace. 32Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” 33So he called it [ad]Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

34When Esau was forty years old he [ae]married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; 35and they [af]brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

[a] 3 Lit seed
[b] 4 Lit seed
[c] 4 Lit seed
[d] 4 Lit seed
[e] 4 Or bless themselves
[f] 5 Lit listened diligently to My voice
[g] 7 Lit lest...place
[h] 12 Lit found
[i] 13 Lit great
[j] 13 Lit great
[k] 14 Lit and possessions of herds
[l] 15 Lit and filled them
[m] 16 Lit much mightier than we
[n] 17 Lit dwelt
[o] 18 Lit they had dug
[p] 18 Lit called their names as the names
[q] 18 Lit called
[r] 19 Lit living
[s] 20 I.e., argument
[t] 21 I.e., accusation
[u] 22 I.e., broad places
[v] 22 Lit Truly now
[w] 22 Or broad
[x] 24 Lit seed
[y] 26 Lit and his confidential friend
[z] 28 Lit between us
[aa] 28 Lit between us and you
[ab] 29 Lit and just as we
[ac] 31 Lit swore one to another
[ad] 33 Meaning uncertain, perhaps oath
[ae] 34 Lit took as wife
[af] 35 Lit were a bitterness of spirit to