Chapter 26

Chapter 26

1 Now there was a severe food shortage in the land, distinct from the previous food shortage that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac traveled to Gerar, to Abimelech, king of the Philistines.

2 The Self-Existent appeared to him and commanded, “Do not go down to Egypt; settle down in the land that I will designate to you.

3 Reside temporarily as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and endow you with the power of life; for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, fulfilling the explicit oath that I swore to your father Abraham.

4 I will multiply your offspring like the stars of the sky, and I will give all these lands to your offspring; and through your offspring, all the nations of the earth shall find the power of life for themselves,

5 because Abraham listened closely to My voice and maintained My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My instructions.”

6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.

7 When the men of that place questioned him about his woman, he said, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to say, “She is my woman,” thinking to himself, “Otherwise, the men of this place will slaughter me on account of Rebekah, because she is exceptionally beautiful.”

8 After he had been there a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked down through a window and saw Isaac being affectionate with his woman Rebekah.

9 Abimelech summoned Isaac immediately and said, “Look, she is obviously your woman! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied to him, “Because I thought, ‘Otherwise, I will be slaughtered on account of her’.”

10 Abimelech demanded, “What is this that you have done to us? One of the people could easily have slept with your woman, and you would have brought guilt upon us!”

11 So Abimelech issued a strict command to all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his woman shall surely be executed.”

12 Then Isaac planted crops in that land and reaped in the same year 100 times what he planted; and The Self-Existent endowed him with the power of life.

13 The man became wealthy and continued to prosper until he became extraordinarily wealthy.

14 He acquired massive flocks of sheep and goats, along with large herds of cattle, along with a massive household, so that the Philistines became envious of him.

15 Now the Philistines had stopped up and filled with dirt all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.

16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you have become vastly more powerful than we are.”

17 So Isaac departed from there, pitched his tents in the Valley of Gerar, and settled there.

18 Isaac re-dug the water wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the exact same names his father had given them.

19 When Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, they discovered a well of fresh running water there.

20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, claiming, “The water belongs to us!” So he named the well Esek (Friction), because they had contended with him.

21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one as well; so he named it Sitnah (Hostility).

22 He moved on from there and dug yet another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth (Open Space), saying, “For now The Self-Existent has made an open space for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

23 From there he went up to Beersheba.

24 The Self-Existent appeared to him that very night and said, “I am The All-Powerful One of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will endow you with the power of life and multiply your offspring for the sake of My servant Abraham.”

25 So Isaac built an altar there and called upon the name of The Self-Existent. He pitched his tent there, and there his servants dug a well.

26 Meanwhile, Abimelech came to him from Gerar, along with Ahuzzath his trusted adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.

27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you hated me and sent me away from your territory?”

28 They replied, “We saw clearly that The Self-Existent has been with you; so we said, ‘Let there be a binding oath between us—between us and you—and let us establish a binding agreement with you,’

29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you, and just as we have done nothing but good to you and sent you away in peace. Now you are visibly endowed with the power of life by The Self-Existent.”

30 Isaac then prepared a massive feast for them, and they ate and drank.

31 They rose early the next morning and swore binding oaths to one another. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.

32 On that exact day, Isaac’s servants came in and reported to him about the well they had dug, saying, “We have found water!”

33 He named it Shibah (Oath); therefore, the name of the city is Beersheba (Well of the Oath) to this very day.

34 When Esau was 40 years old, he took as his women Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

35 They brought extreme bitter strain to the hearts of Isaac and Rebekah.