The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Genesis 26
1 There was a famine in the land, in
addition to the first famine that was in the
days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech
king of the Philistines, to Gerar.
2 Yahweh appeared to him, and said,
“Don’t go down into Egypt. Live in the land
I will tell you about.
3 Live in this land, and I will be with you,
and will bless you. For I will give to you,
and to your offspring, all these lands, and
I will establish the oath which I swore to
Abraham your father.
4 I will multiply your offspring as the
stars ofthe sky, and will give allthese lands
to your offspring. In your offspring all the
nations of the earth will be blessed,
5 because Abraham obeyed my voice,
and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
6 Isaac lived in Gerar.
7 The men of the place asked him about
his wife. He said, “She is my sister,” for
he was afraid to say, “My wife”, lest, he
thought, “the men of the place might kill
me forRebekah, because she is beautifulto
look at.”
8 When he had been there a long time,
Abimelech king of the Philistines looked
out at a window, and saw, and, behold,
Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife.
9 Abimelech called Isaac, and said, “Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you
say, ‘She is my sister’?”
Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I
die because of her.’ ”
10 Abimelech said, “Whatis this you have
done to us? One of the people might easily
have lain with your wife, and you would
have brought guilt on us!”
11 Abimelech commanded all the people,
saying, “He who touches this man or his
wife will surely be put to death.”
12 Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped
in the same year one hundred times what
he planted. Yahweh blessed him.
13 The man grew great, and grew more
and more until he became very great.
14 He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The
Philistines envied him.
15 Now all the wells which his father’s
servants had dug in the days of Abraham
his father, the Philistines had stopped, and
filled with earth.
16 Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away
from us, for you are much mightier than
we.”
17 Isaac departed from there, encamped
in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.
18 Isaac dug again the wells of water,
which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had
stopped them after the death of Abraham.
He called their names after the names by
which his father had called them.
19 Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and
found there a well of flowing† water.
20 The herdsmen of Gerar argued with
Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is
ours.” So he called the name of the well
Esek,‡ because they contended with him.
21 They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. So he called its name
Sitnah.
22 He left that place, and dug another
well. They didn’t argue over that one. So
he called it Rehoboth.† He said, “For now
Yahweh has made room for us, and we will
be fruitful in the land.”
23 He went up from there to Beersheba.
24 Yahweh appeared to him the same
night, and said, “I am the God of Abraham
your father. Don’t be afraid, for I am with
you, and will bless you, and multiply your
offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”
25 He built an altar there, and called on
Yahweh’s name, and pitched his tentthere.
There Isaac’s servants dug a well.
26 Then Abimelech went to him from
Gerar with Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol
the captain of his army.
27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you
come to me, since you hate me, and have
sent me away from you?”
28 They said, “We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. We said, ‘Let there now
be an oath between us, even between us
and you, and let’s make a covenant with
you,
29 that you willdousnoharm, as wehave
not touched you, and as we have done to
you nothing but good, and have sent you
away in peace.’ You are now the blessed of
Yahweh.”
30 Hemade thema feast, andthey ate and
drank.
31 They rose up some time in the morning, and swore an oath to one another.
Isaac sent them away, and they departed
from him in peace.
32 The same day, Isaac’s servants came,
and told him concerning the well which
they had dug, and said to him, “We have
found water.”
33 He called it “Shibah”.‡ Therefore the
name of the city is “Beersheba”§ to this
day.
34 When Esau was forty years old, he
took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri
the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of
Elon the Hittite.
35 They grieved Isaac’s and Rebekah’s
spirits.
26:19 Or, living. Or,fresh. ‡ 26:20 “Esek” means “contention”. § 26:21 “Sitnah”
means “hostility”. 26:22 “Rehoboth” means “broad places”. ‡ 26:33 Shibah means “oath” or “seven”. § 26:33 Beersheba means
“well of the oath” or “well of the seven”