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 possessions 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 Beer-sheba.
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 Beer-sheba
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.