Genesis 21:23-34 ▼

23 Swear to me by God here and now, that you will not break an agreement with me or with my children and descendants. As I have been loyal to you, so you will be loyal to me and to the country where you are a foreign resident.”

24 And Abraham said, “ I swear it.”

25 But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the water well that Abimelech’s servants had seized.

26 Abimelech replied, “ I don’t know who did this thing. You didn’t report anything to me, so I hadn’t heard about it until today .”

27 Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.

28 Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock.

29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “ Why have you separated these seven ewe lambs? ”

30 He replied, “ You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand so that this act will serve as my witness that I dug this well.”

31 Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.

32 After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.

33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God.

34 And Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines for many days.