Genesis 26:1-13 ▼

1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.

2 The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, |Do not go down to Egypt; settle down in the land that I will point out to you.

3 Stay in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will fulfill the solemn promise I made to your father Abraham.

4 I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants.

5 All this will come to pass because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.|

6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.

7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, |She is my sister.| He was afraid to say, |She is my wife,| for he thought to himself, |The men of this place will kill me to get Rebekah because she is very beautiful.|

8 After Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, |She is really your wife! Why did you say, 'She is my sister'?| Isaac replied, |Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.|

10 Then Abimelech exclaimed, |What in the world have you done to us? One of the men might easily have had sexual relations with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!|

11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, |Whoever touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.|

12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, because the LORD blessed him.

13 The man became wealthy. His influence continued to grow until he became very prominent.