Genesis 26 :: New International Version (NIV)

Isaac and Abimelek

Gen 26:1Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar.

Gen 26:2

Gen 26:2The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live.

Gen 26:3

Gen 26:3Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.

Gen 26:4

Gen 26:4I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring[fn] all nations on earth will be blessed,[fn]

Gen 26:5

Gen 26:5because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.”

Gen 26:6

Gen 26:6So Isaac stayed in Gerar.

Gen 26:7

Gen 26:7When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”

Gen 26:8

Gen 26:8When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

Gen 26:9

Gen 26:9So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”

Gen 26:10

Gen 26:10Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”

Gen 26:11

Gen 26:11So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who harms this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

Gen 26:12

Gen 26:12Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him.

Gen 26:13

Gen 26:13The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.

Gen 26:14

Gen 26:14He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.

Gen 26:15

Gen 26:15So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth.

Gen 26:16

Gen 26:16Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”

Gen 26:17

Gen 26:17So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar, where he settled.

Gen 26:18

Gen 26:18Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.

Gen 26:19

Gen 26:19Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there.

Gen 26:20

Gen 26:20But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek,[fn] because they disputed with him.

Gen 26:21

Gen 26:21Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.[fn]

Gen 26:22

Gen 26:22He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth,[fn] saying, “Now the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”

Gen 26:23

Gen 26:23From there he went up to Beersheba.

Gen 26:24

Gen 26:24That night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

Gen 26:25

Gen 26:25Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.

Gen 26:26

Gen 26:26Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces.

Gen 26:27

Gen 26:27Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?”

Gen 26:28

Gen 26:28They answered, “We saw clearly that the LORD was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you

Gen 26:29

Gen 26:29that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the LORD.”

Gen 26:30

Gen 26:30Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank.

Gen 26:31

Gen 26:31Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.

Gen 26:32

Gen 26:32That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!”

Gen 26:33

Gen 26:33He called it Shibah,[fn] and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.[fn]

Jacob Takes Esau’s Blessing

Gen 26:34

Gen 26:34When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.

Gen 26:35

Gen 26:35They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NIV Footnotes

(26:4)

Or seed

(26:4)

Or and all nations on earth will use the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20)

(26:20)

Esek means dispute.

(26:21)

Sitnah means opposition.

(26:22)

Rehoboth means room.

(26:33)

Shibah can mean oath or seven.

(26:33)

Beersheba can mean well of the oath and well of seven.

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For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.