Genesis 26

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.

1There was no food in the land again. The same thing had happened long before, when Abraham was alive. So Isaac went to see Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, in a town called Gerar.

2And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:

2The LORD, who is God, came to Isaac and spoke to him. He said, "Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land I show you."

3Sojourn 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;

3"Stay here as a visitor. I will be with you, and I will be good to you. I will give all these lands to you and to your family after you. I promised this to your father Abraham, and I will do it."

4And 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;

4"Your family will grow and grow. There will be too many to count, like the stars in the sky. I will give them all these lands. Because of your family, good things will come to every nation on earth."

5Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

5"I am doing this because Abraham listened to me. He did what I asked and kept all my rules."

6And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:

6So Isaac stayed in Gerar.

7And 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.

7The men there asked about his wife. He said, "She is my sister." He was too afraid to say, "She is my wife." Rebekah was lovely to look at. Isaac thought the men might kill him so they could take her.

8And 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.

8Isaac lived there a long time. One day King Abimelech looked out of a window. He saw Isaac touching Rebekah the way a husband touches his wife.

NoteThe old word "sporting" here means being loving in the way a husband and wife are. That is how Abimelech knew Rebekah was Isaac's wife, not his sister.

9And 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.

9Abimelech called Isaac and said, "She really is your wife! Why did you say she was your sister?" Isaac said, "I thought someone might kill me to get her."

10And 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.

10Abimelech said, "Why did you do this to us? One of our men could easily have slept with your wife. Then we would all have been guilty of doing wrong."

11And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

11So Abimelech gave an order to all his people. He said, "Anyone who hurts this man or his wife will be put to death."

12Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.

12Isaac planted seeds in that land. That same year he gathered one hundred times what he had planted. The LORD was good to him.

Note"A hundredfold" means one hundred times as much as he planted. For a farmer, that is an enormous harvest.

13And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:

13Isaac became rich. He kept growing richer and richer, until he was very rich indeed.

14For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.

14He owned many sheep and cows, and he had many servants. The Philistines wanted what he had, and it made them angry.

15For 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.

15Long ago Abraham's servants had dug wells there for water. The Philistines had filled every one of those wells with dirt.

16And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.

16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, "Please go away from us. You have become much stronger than we are."

17And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

17So Isaac left. He set up his tents in the valley of Gerar and lived there.

18And 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.

18Isaac dug open the old wells again, the ones from Abraham's time. The Philistines had filled them in after Abraham died. Isaac gave each well the same name his father had given it.

19And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

19Isaac's servants dug in the valley. There they found a well of fresh, moving water.

20And 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.

20The shepherds of Gerar argued with Isaac's shepherds. They said, "This water is ours!" So Isaac named the well Esek, which means arguing.

21And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.

21Then they dug another well, and people argued about that one too. So he named it Sitnah, which means fighting.

22And 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.

22He moved away and dug one more well. Nobody argued about this one. He named it Rehoboth, which means plenty of room. He said, "Now the LORD has made room for us. We will do well in this land."

23And he went up from thence to Beersheba.

23From there Isaac went up to a place called Beersheba.

24And 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.

24That night the LORD came to him and spoke. He said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid. I am with you. I will be good to you. I will give you a big family, because of my servant Abraham."

25And 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.

25Isaac built an altar there, a stone table for giving gifts to God. He prayed to the LORD there. He set up his tent, and his servants dug a well.

26Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.

26Then Abimelech came from Gerar to see Isaac. He brought his friend Ahuzzath and Phichol, the leader of his army.

27And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?

27Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me? You did not like me. You sent me away."

28And 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;

28They said, "We can plainly see that the LORD is with you. Let us make a promise to each other. Let us make an agreement with you."

29That 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.

29"Promise that you will not hurt us. We never hurt you. We were only kind to you. We sent you away in peace. And now the LORD has been very good to you."

30And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.

30So Isaac made them a big meal. They ate and drank together.

31And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

31They got up early the next morning. Each side made its promise to the other. Then Isaac said goodbye, and they went away as friends.

32And 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.

32That same day Isaac's servants came to him. They told him about the well they had been digging. They said, "We have found water!"

33And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.

33So he named the well Shebah. That is why the town is still called Beersheba today.

Note"Beersheba" means well of the promise. Isaac named it that because of the promise he and Abimelech had just made.

34And 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:

34Esau was forty years old when he got married. He married two women from the Hittite people. One was Judith, whose father was Beeri. The other was Bashemath, whose father was Elon.

35Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.

35These two wives made Isaac and Rebekah very sad.