| Chapter
26 |
| 1 | And
there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of
Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. |
| 2 | And the LORD appeared unto
him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell
thee of: |
| 3 | Sojourn in
this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and
unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath
which I sware unto Abraham thy father; |
| 4 | And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of
heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed; |
| 5 | Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge,
my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. |
| 6 | And Isaac dwelt in Gerar: |
|
7 | And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he
said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he,
the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look
upon. |
| 8 | And it came to
pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the
Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting
with Rebekah his wife. |
| 9 |
And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife; and
how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said,
Lest I die for her. |
| 10 |
And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people
might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought
guiltiness upon us. |
| 11 |
And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his
wife shall surely be put to death. |
|
12 | Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an
hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. |
| 13 | And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew
until he became very great: |
| 14
| For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great
store of servants: and the Philistines envied him. |
|
15 | For all the wells which his father's servants had
digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and
filled them with earth. |
| 16 |
And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than
we. |
| 17 | And Isaac
departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt
there. |
| 18 | And Isaac
digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham
his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham:
and he called their names after the names by which his father had called
them. |
| 19 | And Isaac's
servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. |
| 20 | And the herdmen of Gerar
did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the
name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. |
| 21 | And they digged another well, and
strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. |
| 22 | And he removed from thence, and digged
another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it
Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be
fruitful in the land. |
| 23 |
And he went up from thence to Beersheba. |
| 24 | And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and
said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and
will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. |
| 25 | And he builded an altar there,
and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there
Isaac's servants digged a well. |
|
26 | Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his
friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army. |
|
27 | And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to
me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? |
| 28 | And they said, We saw certainly that
the LORD was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even
betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; |
| 29 | That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we
have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have
sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the LORD. |
| 30 | And he made them a feast, and they did
eat and drink. |
| 31 | And
they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent
them away, and they departed from him in peace. |
|
32 | And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's
servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said
unto him, We have found water. |
| 33
| And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba
unto this day. |
| 34 | And
Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the
Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: |
| 35 | Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac
and to Rebekah. |
