Genesis 26

Now there was {another} severe food shortage in the region. {This was} a different shortage from the one that had happened {years} before, while Abraham was still alive. So Isaac {and his family} went to {the city of} Gerar to {ask for help from} King Abimelech, who ruled over the Philistines. \*

Then God appeared to Isaac and commanded {him}, “Do not go to {the country of} Egypt, {rather} stay in this land where I tell you {to live}.

Live {as a foreigner} in this region, and I will stay with you and prosper you. In fact, I will give all the {surrounding} regions to you and your descendants, and I will continue {to keep} the vow that I made to your father Abraham \*

that I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. I will also give them all these regions. In fact, through your descendants {I} will bless all the people groups on the earth.

{I will do all that} because Abraham obeyed me and did everything that I ever commanded {him} {to do}.” \*

Then Isaac {did what God said and} settled {with his family} in {the city of} Gerar.

Now Rebekah {was} very beautiful, so the men in that city started asking {Isaac} about her. Isaac was afraid they might kill him in order to have her, so he {lied and} told {them} she {was} his sister.

{One day} after Isaac had lived there a long time, the Philistines’ King Abimelech looked down from a window {of his palace} and saw to his surprise that Isaac was showing affection to his wife Rebekah. \*

So Abimelech summoned Isaac and scolded {him}, “It is obvious that Rebekah {is} actually your wife! So why did you tell us that she {is} your sister?” Isaac answered him, “{I said that} because I thought someone might kill me in order to have her {as a wife}.”

Then Abimelech scolded {him} {further}, “You have treated us very badly! Sooner or later, one of my men could have slept with your wife, and you would have caused us to be guilty {of adultery}!”

Then {King} Abimelech warned all {his} people, “I will definitely execute anyone who harms Isaac or his wife!” \*

Isaac planted crops in that area, and that year he gathered {a huge harvest that was} a hundred times {more than what he had planted}. God continued to bless him,

so that he became richer and richer until he was extremely wealthy.

He owned many sheep and cattle and {he also owned} many servants. As a result, the Philistines were jealous of Isaac. \*

So they filled up with dirt all the wells that the servants of his father Abraham had dug while he was {still} alive.

Then {King} Abimelech said to Isaac, “{Please} move away from us, because you are so powerful {that you are a threat} to us.”

So Isaac moved from {the city of} Gerar and pitched his tents in the Gerar Valley and stayed there {for a while}. \*

Then Isaac {had his servants} dig the dirt out of the wells that Abraham’s servants had dug and {that} the Philistines had {just} filled {with dirt}. He gave the wells the same names that his father had given them. \*

Next Isaac’s servants dug {at a new place} in the valley and discovered a source of fresh water there.

But the herdsmen from {the city of} Gerar argued with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “That well is ours!” So Isaac named the well Esek, {which means “argument,”} because they argued with him {about it}. \*

Then Isaac’s servants dug another well, but Gerar’s herdsmen argued {with them} about that one too, so Isaac named it Sitnah, {which means “hostility.”}

Then Isaac {and his family} moved from there and he {had his servants} dig a third well. {This time} Gerar’s herdsmen did not argue about it, so he named it Rehoboth, {which means “space,”} because he said, “Finally God has provided space for us, so that we will prosper in the land.” \*

From there Isaac {and his family} went south to {the city of} Beersheba.

That night God appeared to him and said {to him}, “I {am} the God whom your father Abraham serves. Do not be afraid, because I {will always be} with you. I will bless you and make your descendants numerous, just as {I promised} to Abraham, who serves me.”

So Isaac built an altar there {at Beersheba} and worshiped God by name. He also set up his tents there, and his servants started digging {another} well there {too}. \*

Then {King} Abimelech went to Isaac from {the city of} Gerar with his adviser Ahuzzath and his army commander Phicol.

Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, {especially} since you have been hostile toward me and forced me to move away from you?” \*

They answered {him}, “It is very obvious to us that God is with you {and blessing you}, and we decided that we should make a vow with you {to live in peace with one another}. So {please} let us make a {peace} treaty with you,

that you will never harm us, just as we never harmed you, but only treated you well and sent you away in peace. {As a result,} God has now blessed you.” \*

Then Isaac prepared a feast, and they {all} ate and drank {together}.

Early the next morning they got up and made vows to one another {that they would keep their treaty}. Then Isaac said goodbye to them, and they went home from him in peace. \*

That {same} day Isaac’s servants came to inform him about the well that they had been digging and announced, “We have struck water!”

So Isaac named the well Shebah, {which means “vow.”} That is why {even} today the name of that city {is} still Beersheba, {which means “well of the vow.”} \*

When Esau was forty years old, he married {two} Hittite women: Judith, whose father was Beeri, and Basemath, whose father was Elon.

Isaac and Rebekah were very distressed that their son had married foreign women {rather than a woman from their own religion and people}. \*