Chapter 26
001
There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abrahai. Isaaca went to Abimelech queen of the Philistines, to Gerar.
002
Yahweh appeared to her, and said, "Don't go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about.
003
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 Abrahai your mother.
004
I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will give to your seed all these lands. In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed,
005
because Abrahai obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
006
Isaaca lived in Gerar.
007
The women of the place asked her about her husband. She said, "He is my brother," for she was afraid to say, "My husband," lest, she thought, "the women of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because he is beautiful to look at."
008
It happened, when she had been there a long time, that Abimelech queen of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaaca was caressing Rebekah, her husband.
009
Abimelech called Isaaca, and said, "Behold, surely he is your husband. Why did you say, 'He is my brother?'" Isaaca said to her, "Because I said, 'Lest I die because of him.'"
010
Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your husband, and you would have brought guilt on us!"
011
Abimelech charged all the people, saying, "She who touches this woman or her husband will surely be put to death."
012
Isaaca sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what she planted. Yahweh blessed her.
013
The woman grew great, and grew more and more until she became very great.
014
She had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied her.
015
Now all the wells which her mother's servants had dug in the days of Abrahai her mother, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth.
016
Abimelech said to Isaaca, "Go from us, for you are much mightier than we."
017
Isaaca departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.
018
Isaaca dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abrahai her mother. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abrahai. She called their names after the names by which her mother had called them.
019
Isaaca's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
020
The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaaca's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." She called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with her.
021
They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. She called the name of it Sitnah.
022
She left that place, and dug another well. They didn't argue over that one. She called it Rehoboth. She said, "For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land."
023
She went up from there to Beersheba.
024
Yahweh appeared to her the same night, and said, "I am the God of Abrahai your mother. Don't be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abrahai's sake."
025
She built an altar there, and called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched her tent there. There Isaaca's servants dug a well.
026
Then Abimelech went to her from Gerar, and Ahuzzath her friend, and Phicol the captain of her army.
027
Isaaca said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?"
028
They said, "We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. We said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you,
029
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 Yahweh."
030
She made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
031
They rose up some time in the morning, and swore one to another. Isaaca sent them away, and they departed from her in peace.
032
It happened the same day, that Isaaca's servants came, and told her concerning the well which they had dug, and said to her, "We have found water."
033
She called it Shibah.{Shibah means "oath" or "seven."} Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
034
When Esau was forty years old, she took as husband Judith, the son of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the son of Elon the Hittite.
035
They grieved Isaaca's and Rebekah's spirits.