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 possession 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 Beersheba.
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 Beersheba
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:
