Isaac and Abimelech

1And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.

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

3Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for unto you, and unto your descendants, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham your father;

4And I will make your descendants to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto your descendants all these countries; and in your descendants shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

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

6And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:

7And the men of the place asked him about 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.

8And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah his wife.

9And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a truth she is your wife: and how said you, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.

10And Abimelech said, What is this you have done unto us? one of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guiltiness upon us.

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

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

13And the man became great, and advanced, and grew until he became very great:

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

15For all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.

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

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

18And Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug 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.

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

20And the herdsmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.

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

22And he removed from there, and dug another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

23And he went up from there to Beersheba.

24And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham your father: fear not, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your descendants for my servant Abraham's sake.

25And he built an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants dug a well.

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

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

28And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with you: and we said, Let there be now an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you;

29That you will do us no hurt, as we have not touched you, and as we have done unto you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace: you are now the blessed of the LORD.

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

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

32And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said unto him, We have found water.

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

34And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:

35Who were a source of grief unto Isaac and to Rebekah.