Gen 26 | NASB2020 | STEP | Now there was a famine in the land , besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham . So Isaac went to Gerar , to Abimelech king of the Philistines .

Genesis 26

Isaac Settles in Gerar

1 Now there was ^aa famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to ^bAbimelech king of the Philistines. 2 And the Lord ^cappeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; ^dstay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Live for a time in this land and ^eI will be with you and ^fbless you, for ^gto you and to your ^{▼▼Lit seed}descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish ⁱthe oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4 ^jI will multiply your ^{▼▼Lit seed}descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your ^{▼▼Lit seed}descendants all these lands; and ^mby your ^{▼▼Lit seed}descendants all the nations of the earth ^{▼▼Or bless themselves}shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham ^{▼▼Lit listened diligently to My voice
,} ^qobeyed Me and fulfilled his duty to Me, and kept My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

6 So Isaac lived in Gerar. 7 When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “ ^rShe is my sister,” for he was ^safraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “ ^{▼▼Lit lest...place}the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is ^ubeautiful.” 8 Now it came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down through a window, and saw them, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she certainly is your wife! So how is it that you said, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘otherwise I might be killed on account of her.’” 10 And ^vAbimelech said, “What is this that you have done to us? One of the people might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who ^wtouches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death.”

12 Now Isaac sowed in that land and ^{▼▼Lit found}reaped in the same year a hundred times as much. And ^ythe Lord blessed him, 13 and the man ^zbecame rich, and continued to grow ^{▼▼Lit great}richer until he became very ^{▼▼Lit great}wealthy; 14 for ^ache had possessions of flocks ^{▼▼Lit and possessions of herds}and herds, and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. 15 Now ^aeall the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up ^{▼▼Lit and filled them}by filling them with dirt. 16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are ^{▼▼Lit much mightier than we
,} ^ahtoo powerful for us.” 17 So Isaac departed from there and camped in the Valley of Gerar, and ^{▼▼Lit dwelt}settled there.

Argument over the Wells

18 Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which ^{▼▼Lit they had dug}had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he ^{▼▼Lit called their names as the names}gave them the same names which his father had ^{▼▼Lit called}given them. 19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of ^{▼▼Lit living}flowing water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar ^anquarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well ^{▼▼I.e., argument}Esek, because they argued with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it ^{▼▼I.e., accusation}Sitnah. 22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it ^{▼▼I.e., broad places}Rehoboth, for he said, “ ^{▼▼Lit Truly now
,} ^asAt last the Lord has made ^{▼▼Or broad}room for us, and we will be ^aufruitful in the land.”

23 And he went up from there to ^avBeersheba. 24 And the Lord ^awappeared to him the same night and said,

“ ^axI am the God of your father Abraham;
^ayDo not fear, for I am with you.
I ^azwill bless you and multiply your ^{▼▼Lit seed}descendants,
For the sake of My servant Abraham.”
25 So he built an ^bbaltar 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

26 Then ^bcAbimelech came to him from Gerar ^{▼▼Lit and his confidential friend}with his adviser Ahuzzath, and Phicol the commander of his army. 27 Isaac said to them, “ ^beWhy have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28 They said, “We have seen plainly ^bfthat the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘An oath must now be taken ^{▼▼Lit between us}by us,’ that is, ^{▼▼Lit between us and you}by you and us. So let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you ^{▼▼Lit and just as we}and have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace. You are now the ^bjblessed of the Lord.” 30 Then ^bkhe made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they got up early and ^{▼▼Lit swore one to another
,} ^bmexchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away, and they left him in peace. 32 Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 So he called it ^{▼▼Meaning uncertain, perhaps oath}Shibah; therefore the name of the city is ^boBeersheba to this day.

34 When Esau was forty years old ^bphe ^{▼▼Lit took as wife}married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; 35 and ^brthey ^{▼▼Lit were a bitterness of spirit to}brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.