God’s Promise to Isaac
1. And there was a famine in the land,
besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham.
And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.
2. And Jehovah appeared to him, and said,
“Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell you of.
3. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you;
for to you and to your seed I will give all these lands,
and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
4. And I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens,
and will give to your seed all these lands;
and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,
5. because Abraham obeyed My voice,
and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
Isaac and Rebekah in Gerar
6. And Isaac dwelt in Gerar.
7. And the men of the place asked about his wife; and he said,
“She is my sister,”
for he feared to say, “My wife,”
lest the men of the place kill him 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 through a window,
and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah his wife.
9. And Abimelech called Isaac, and said,
“Behold, surely she is your wife!
How then said you, ‘She is my sister’?”
And Isaac said to him,
“Because I said, Lest I die for her.”
10. And 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!”
11. And Abimelech charged all his people, saying,
“He that touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
Isaac’s Prosperity and the Envy of the Philistines
12. And Isaac sowed in that land,
and found in the same year a hundredfold;
and Jehovah blessed him.
13. And the man grew great,
and went on, becoming greater and greater,
14. for he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds,
and a great household;
and the Philistines envied him.
15. For all the wells which his father’s servants had dug
in the days of Abraham his father,
the Philistines stopped them, and filled them with earth.
16. And Abimelech said to Isaac,
“Go from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
Isaac Digs Wells
17. And Isaac departed from there,
and encamped in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
18. And Isaac dug again the wells of water
which they had dug 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 dug in the valley,
and found there a well of living water.
20. And the herdsmen of Gerar strove with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying,
“The water is ours!”
And he called the name of the well Esek (“contention”),
because they contended with him.
21. And they dug another well,
and they strove for that also;
and he called its name Sitnah (“enmity”).
22. And he removed from there, and dug another well;
and for that they did not strive.
And he called its name Rehoboth (“broad places”);
and he said,
“For now Jehovah has made room for us,
and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
God Appears to Isaac at Beersheba
23. And he went up from there to Beersheba.
24. And Jehovah appeared to him the same night, and said,
“I am the God of Abraham your father;
fear not, for I am with you,
and will bless you, and multiply your seed
for My servant Abraham’s sake.”
25. And he built an altar there,
and called upon the name of Jehovah,
and pitched his tent there;
and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
Covenant with Abimelech
26. Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar,
and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the commander of his army.
27. And Isaac said to them,
“Why have you come to me,
seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?”
28. And they said,
“We saw plainly that Jehovah was with you;
and we said, Let there now be an oath between us,
between us and you,
and let us make a covenant with you,
29. that you will do us no harm,
as we have not touched you,
and as we have done to you nothing but good,
and have sent you away in peace.
You are now the blessed of Jehovah.”
30. And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31. And they rose up early in the morning,
and swore one to another;
and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
The Naming of Beersheba
32.And it came to pass the same day,
that Isaac’s servants came and told him concerning the well which they had dug,
and said to him, “We have found water.”
33. And he called it Shibah (“oath”);
therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
Esau’s Wives
34. And when Esau was forty years old,
he took as wives Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite,
and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
35. And they were a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.
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