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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, the 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, will I give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham thy father; 4 And I will cause thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and I will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves. 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] concerning 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 is of a handsome appearance. 8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech, the 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 thought, Perhaps I may die for her. 10 And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? How easily might one of the people have lain with thy wife, and thou wouldst 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 a hundred-fold: so the Lord blessed him. 13 And the man became great, and went forward and grew, until he became very great; 14 And he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants; and the Philistines envied him. 15 And all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, these the Philistines stopped, and filled them with earth. 16 And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go away from us; for thou hast become much mightier than we. 17 And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham; and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. 19 And the servants of Isaac dug 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 Essek; because they strove with him. 21 And they dug another well, and they strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. 22 And he removed from there, and dug another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rechoboth, and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall increase in the land. 23 And he went up from there 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 I will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for the sake of Abraham my servant. 25 And he built there an altar, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched there his tent: and the servants of Isaac dug there a well. 26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Achuzzath his friend, and Phichol the chief captain of his army. 27 And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing that ye do hate me, and have sent me away from you? 28 And they said, We saw clearly that the Lord was with thee; and we said, Let there be now an oath between us and thee; and we will make a covenant with thee; 29 That thou shalt 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 one blessed of the Lord. 30 And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 And they rose up betimes in the morning, and they swore one to the other; 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 dug, and they said unto him, We have found water. 33 And he called it Shibah: therefore is the name of the city Beer-sheba unto this day. 34 And when Esau was forty years old he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri, the Hittite, and Bahsemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 And they were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.