| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New Living Translation |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1A severe famine now struck the land, as had happened before in Abraham’s time. So Isaac moved to Gerar, where Abimelech, king of the Philistines, lived. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt, but do as I tell you. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. I hereby confirm that I will give all these lands to you and your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars of the sky, and I will give them all these lands. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5I will do this because Abraham listened to me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, decrees, and instructions.” |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6So Isaac stayed in Gerar. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7When the men who lived there asked Isaac about his wife, Rebekah, he said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “They will kill me to get her, because she is so beautiful.” |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8But some time later, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9Immediately, Abimelech called for Isaac and exclaimed, “She is obviously your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” “Because I was afraid someone would kill me to get her from me,” Isaac replied. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10“How could you do this to us?” Abimelech exclaimed. “One of my people might easily have taken your wife and slept with her, and you would have made us guilty of great sin.” |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11Then Abimelech issued a public proclamation: “Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be put to death!” Conflict over Water Rights |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12When Isaac planted his crops that year, he harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, for the LORD blessed him. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13He became a very rich man, and his wealth continued to grow. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14He acquired so many flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and servants that the Philistines became jealous of him. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15So the Philistines filled up all of Isaac’s wells with dirt. These were the wells that had been dug by the servants of his father, Abraham. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16Finally, Abimelech ordered Isaac to leave the country. “Go somewhere else,” he said, “for you have become too powerful for us.” |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17So Isaac moved away to the Gerar Valley, where he set up their tents and settled down. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18He reopened the wells his father had dug, which the Philistines had filled in after Abraham’s death. Isaac also restored the names Abraham had given them. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19Isaac’s servants also dug in the Gerar Valley and discovered a well of fresh water. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20But then the shepherds from Gerar came and claimed the spring. “This is our water,” they said, and they argued over it with Isaac’s herdsmen. So Isaac named the well Esek (which means “argument”). |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21Isaac’s men then dug another well, but again there was a dispute over it. So Isaac named it Sitnah (which means “hostility”). |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22Abandoning that one, Isaac moved on and dug another well. This time there was no dispute over it, so Isaac named the place Rehoboth (which means “open space”), for he said, “At last the LORD has created enough space for us to prosper in this land.” |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23From there Isaac moved to Beersheba, |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24where the LORD appeared to him on the night of his arrival. “I am the God of your father, Abraham,” he said. “Do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you. I will multiply your descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will do this because of my promise to Abraham, my servant.” |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the LORD. He set up his camp at that place, and his servants dug another well. Isaac’s Covenant with Abimelech |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26One day King Abimelech came from Gerar with his adviser, Ahuzzath, and also Phicol, his army commander. |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27“Why have you come here?” Isaac asked. “You obviously hate me, since you kicked me off your land.” |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28They replied, “We can plainly see that the LORD is with you. So we want to enter into a sworn treaty with you. Let’s make a covenant. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29Swear that you will not harm us, just as we have never troubled you. We have always treated you well, and we sent you away from us in peace. And now look how the LORD has blessed you!” |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30So Isaac prepared a covenant feast to celebrate the treaty, and they ate and drank together. |
| 31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 31Early the next morning, they each took a solemn oath not to interfere with each other. Then Isaac sent them home again, and they left him in peace. |
| 32[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 32That very day Isaac’s servants came and told him about a new well they had dug. “We’ve found water!” they exclaimed. |
| 33[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 33So Isaac named the well Shibah (which means “oath”). And to this day the town that grew up there is called Beersheba (which means “well of the oath”). |
| 34[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 34At the age of forty, Esau married two Hittite wives: Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon. |
| 35[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 35But Esau’s wives made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah. |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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