Genesis 26

₁There was a famine in the land, like it had been in the time of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelek, the king of the Philistines, in the land of Gerar.

₂The Lord appeared to Isaac and said to him: ‘Do not go to Egypt. You must live in the land that I will tell you to live in. ₃Stay in this land as a stranger. I will be with you and I will bless you. I will give you and your descendants this land. I will do what I promised your father Abraham. ₄I will make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land. All people on earth will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants. ₅I will do this because Abraham listened to Me and he did what I said. He was obedient to Me.’

₆Isaac stayed in the land of Gerar. ₇The men from the town where he stayed asked him about his wife, Rebekah, and he said: ‘She is my sister.’

He did not want to say that Rebekah was his wife. He was afraid they would kill him and take his wife because she was beautiful.

₈Isaac stayed there for a long time and one day when King Abimelek looked out the window, he saw Isaac kissing his wife Rebekah and holding her in his arms. ₉Then Abimelek called Isaac and said to him: ‘I see Rebekah is your wife. Why did you say that she is your sister?’ Isaac answered and said: ‘I thought you would kill me if I said she was my wife.’ ₁₀Abimelek said: ‘What have you done to us? If one of our men had slept with your wife, then we would have sinned and it would have been your fault.’ ₁₁Abimelek told his people: ‘Don't do anything bad to this man or to his wife. Anyone who does something bad to them will die, this is sure.’

₁₂Isaac sowed wheat in the land of Gerar and he got 100 times more wheat than he sowed that year. The Lord blessed him ₁₃and he became a very rich man. ₁₄He had a lot of sheep, goats, cattle and slaves. He had so much that the Philistines became jealous of him. ₁₅The slaves of Isaac's father, Abraham, had made water-wells there but the Philistines closed all the wells by throwing sand into them.

₁₆Then Abimelek said to Isaac: ‘You must go away from us because you have become much richer than we are.’ ₁₇Isaac went away and he lived at the Gerar River.

₁₈Isaac opened all the water-wells that Abraham had made, and which the Philistines had closed after Abraham had died. Abraham had given names to the wells and Isaac named them the same names again. ₁₉Isaac's servants made a water-well in a valley and they got a lot of water from it. ₂₀The shepherds of Gerar argued with Isaac's shepherds. They said: ‘This is our water.’ Then Isaac named the water-well Esek, because they argued with his shepherds.

₂₁Isaac's shepherds made another water-well, but the shepherds of Gerar complained again. Then Isaac named that well Sitnah. ₂₂Isaac went on and they made another water-well. The shepherds did not argue about that well and Isaac named the well Rehoboth. He said: ‘Now the Lord has given us enough land. We will succeed in this land.’

₂₃Then Isaac went to the town of Beersheba. ₂₄That night the Lord appeared to him and said: ‘I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid. I am with you. I will bless you and I will give you many descendants. I will do it because I loved your father, my servant Abraham.’ ₂₅Isaac built an altar there and worshipped the Lord. Isaac put up his tent there and his servants made a water-well.

₂₆Then Abimelek came from Gerar to Isaac. Abimelek's advisor, Ahuzzath, and Phicol, the chief of his army, were with him. ₂₇Isaac asked them: ‘Why have you come to me? I know you hate me because you have sent me away from you.’

₂₈They said to Isaac: ‘We see that the Lord is with you and that He blesses you. So we think that there must be an agreement between us. ₂₉You must promise that you will not do anything bad to us. We have not done anything bad to you. We have been only good to you and we have let you go in peace. Everyone can see that the Lord blesses you.’

₃₀Isaac gave a feast for them and they ate and drank. ₃₁Early the next morning they made an agreement. Isaac sent them away and they went in peace.

₃₂On that day Isaac's servants came to him and they told him about another water-well that they had made. They told him: ‘We have found more water.’ ₃₃Isaac named the water-well Shibah and that town is still named Beersheba today.

₃₄When Esau was 40 years old, he married 2 women. The name of one woman was Judith. She was the daughter of Beeri. The other woman was Basemath, the daughter of Elon. Both women were Hittites. ₃₅Isaac and Rebekah were very unhappy about the 2 wives of Esau.