26
1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham [Father of a multitude]. Isaac [Laughter] went to Abimelech [My father king] king of the Philistines [To roll in dust (As an insult)], to Gerar. 2 Adonai appeared to him, and said, “Don’t go down into Egypt [Abode of slavery]. Live in the land I will tell you about. 3 Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For I will give to you, and to your offspring, all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham [Father of a multitude] your father. 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. By your seed, all the nations of the earth be blessed, * 5 because Abraham [Father of a multitude] sh'ma ·heard obeyed· my voice, and heeded what I told him to do— he followed my mitzvot ·instructions·, my regulations, and my torot ·teachings·.”
(2) 6 Isaac [Laughter] lived in Gerar. 7 The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “My wife,” lest, he thought, “the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah [Securely bound], because she is beautiful to look at.” 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech [My father king] king of the Philistines [To roll in dust (As an insult)] looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac [Laughter] was caressing Rebekah [Securely bound], his wife. 9 Abimelech [My father king] called Isaac [Laughter], and said, “Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, ‘She is my sister?’ ”
Isaac [Laughter] said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die because of her.’ ”
10 Abimelech [My father king] said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought fault incurring guilt on us!”
11 Abimelech [My father king] enjoined all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
12 Isaac [Laughter] sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Adonai blessed him. (3) 13 The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great. 14 He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines [To roll in dust (As an insult)] envied him. 15 Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham [Father of a multitude] his father, the Philistines [To roll in dust (As an insult)] had stopped, and filled with earth. 16 Abimelech [My father king] said to Isaac [Laughter], “Go from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
17 Isaac [Laughter] departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.
18 Isaac [Laughter] dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham [Father of a multitude] his father. For the Philistines [To roll in dust (As an insult)] had stopped them after the death of Abraham [Father of a multitude]. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them. 19 Isaac [Laughter]’s servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. 20 The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac [Laughter]’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” He called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. 21 They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. He called its name Sitnah. 22 He left that place, and dug another well. They didn’t argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, “For now Adonai has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”
(4) 23 He went up from there to Be'er-Sheva [Well of Seven, Well of an Oath]. 24 Adonai appeared to him the same night, and said, “I am the God of Abraham [Father of a multitude] your father. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham [Father of a multitude]’s sake.”
25 He built an altar there, and called on Adonai’s name, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac [Laughter]’s servants dug a well.
26 Then Abimelech [My father king] went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army. 27 Isaac [Laughter] said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?”
28 They said, “We saw plainly that Adonai was with you. We said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant ·binding contract between two or more parties· with you, 29 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 Adonai.”
(5) 30 He made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 They rose up some time in the morning, and swore to one another. Isaac [Laughter] sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. 32 The same day, Isaac [Laughter]’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 He called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Be'er-Sheva [Well of Seven, Well of an Oath] to this day.
34 When Esau [Hairy] was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite [Descendant of Trembling fear], and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite [Descendant of Trembling fear]. 35 They grieved Isaac [Laughter]’s and Rebekah [Securely bound]’s spirits.
* 26:4 . Quoted in Acts 3:25