Shared Word Translation
Genesis 26
Isaac and Abimelech
Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar. And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring like the stars of the heavens and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
So Isaac settled in Gerar. When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “The men of the place may kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was beautiful in appearance. When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah his wife. Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife! How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought I might die because of her.” Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
Isaac Prospers
Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him. The man became rich and continued to prosper until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. Now all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth.
Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you have become much mightier than we.” So Isaac departed from there and camped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped up after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them.
The Wells of Isaac
But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, they found there a well of spring water. The herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah. And he moved on from there and dug another well, and over it they did not quarrel. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
The LORD Appears at Beersheba
From there he went up to Beersheba. And the LORD appeared to him that same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not fear, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for the sake of Abraham my servant.” So 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
Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army. Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” They said, “We clearly see that the LORD has been with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now blessed by the LORD.’”
So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” He called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
Esau’s Wives
When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite as wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.