Thematic Bible
Genesis 26:1 (show verse)
There was another famine in the land besides the earlier one during the time of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.
Genesis 26:2 (show verse)
Jehovah appeared to Isaac and said: Isaac, stay away from Egypt! I will show you where I want you to go.
Genesis 26:3 (show verse)
You will live there as a foreigner. I will be with you and bless you. I will keep my promise to your father Abraham by giving this land to you and your descendants.
Genesis 26:4 (show verse)
I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky. I will give your descendants all of this land. They will be a blessing to every nation on earth.
Genesis 26:5 (show verse)
This is because Abraham did everything I told him to do.
Genesis 26:6 (show verse)
Isaac moved to Gerar.
Genesis 26:7 (show verse)
His wife Rebekah was very beautiful. He was afraid that someone might kill him to get her. So he told everyone that Rebekah was his sister.
Genesis 26:8 (show verse)
After Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech looked out a window and saw Isaac intimately laughing and caressing Rebekah.
Genesis 26:9 (show verse)
Abimelech called him in and said: Rebekah must be your wife! Why did you say she is your sister? I thought someone would kill me, Isaac answered.
Genesis 26:10 (show verse)
Do you know what you have done? Abimelech shouted. If someone had slept with her, you would have made our whole nation guilty!
Genesis 26:11 (show verse)
So Abimelech charged all the people, saying: He who touches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death.
Genesis 26:12 (show verse)
Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. Jehovah blessed him.
Genesis 26:13 (show verse)
He became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy.
Genesis 26:14 (show verse)
He possessed flocks and herds and a great household. The Philistines envied him.
Genesis 26:15 (show verse)
The Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father. They filled them with dirt.
Genesis 26:16 (show verse)
Abimelech said to Isaac: Go away from us. You are too powerful for us.
Genesis 26:17 (show verse)
Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar where he settled.
Genesis 26:18 (show verse)
Then Isaac dug the water wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham. The Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He gave them the same names his father had given them.
Genesis 26:19 (show verse)
Isaac's servants dug in the valley (wadi) (torrent-valley) and found a well of running water.
Genesis 26:20 (show verse)
The herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac. They said: The water is ours! So he named the well Esek, because they argued with him.
Genesis 26:21 (show verse)
They dug another well. And they quarreled over that one too. So Isaac named it Sitnah (Accusation).
Genesis 26:22 (show verse)
He moved on from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over this one. So he named it Rehoboth (Roomy). He said: Now Jehovah has made room for us. We will prosper in this land.
Genesis 26:23 (show verse)
He went from there to Beer-sheba.
Genesis 26:24 (show verse)
That night Jehovah appeared to Isaac. Jehovah said: I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, because I am with you. I will bless you and increase the number of your descendants for my servant Abraham's sake.
Genesis 26:25 (show verse)
Isaac built an altar there and worshiped Jehovah. Then he set up his camp. His servants dug another well.
Genesis 26:26 (show verse)
Abimelech came from Gerar with Ahuzzath, his friend (companion), and Phicol, the commander of his army, to see Isaac.
Genesis 26:27 (show verse)
Isaac asked: Why have you now come to see me? You were so unfriendly to me before and made me leave your country.
Genesis 26:28 (show verse)
They answered: Now we know that Jehovah is with you. We think that there should be a solemn agreement between us. We want you to promise
Genesis 26:29 (show verse)
that you will not harm us. We did not harm you. We were kind to you and let you go peacefully. Now it is clear that Jehovah has blessed you.
Genesis 26:30 (show verse)
Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank.
Genesis 26:31 (show verse)
Early the next morning each man made his promise and sealed it with a vow. Isaac said good-bye to them. They parted as friends.
Genesis 26:32 (show verse)
That day Isaac's servants told him about the well they dug. They said: We have found water.
Genesis 26:33 (show verse)
Isaac named the well Shibah. The town is still called Beer-sheba.
Genesis 26:34 (show verse)
When Esau was forty he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
Genesis 26:35 (show verse)
These two women brought a lot of grief to his parents, Isaac and Rebekah.