Genesis 26

God's Promise to Isaac

1 Now there was a famine in the land, besides u the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to v Abimelech king of the w Philistines. 2 And the Lord appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; dwell x in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 y Sojourn in this land, and z I will be with you and will bless you, for a to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish b the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 c I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And d in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because e Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

Isaac and Abimelech

6 So Isaac settled in Gerar. 7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, f he said, "She is my sister," for g he feared to say, "My wife," thinking, "lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah," because h she was attractive in appearance. 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with 1 Rebekah his wife. 9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac said to him, "Because I thought, 'Lest I die because of her.'" 10 Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and i you would have brought guilt upon us." 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, "Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."

12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord j blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines k envied him. 15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells l that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we."

17 So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And m he gave them the names that his father had given them. 19 But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar n quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." So he called the name of the well Esek, 2 because they contended with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah. 3 22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, 4 saying, "For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."

23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, o "I am the God of Abraham your father. p Fear not, for q I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake." 25 So he r 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.

26 When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and s Phicol the commander of his army, 27 Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and t have sent me away from you?" 28 They said, "We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. u You are now the blessed of the Lord." 30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they rose early and v exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. 32 That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, "We have found water." 33 He called it Shibah; 5 therefore the name of the city is w Beersheba to this day.

34 When Esau was forty years old, he took x Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, 35 and y they made life bitter 6 for Isaac and Rebekah.

  1. Cross References
    Genesis 12:10
    Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
  2. Cross References
    Genesis 20:2
    And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
  3. Cross References
    Genesis 21:34
    And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.
  4. Cross References
    Genesis 12:1
    Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
  5. Cross References
    Genesis 20:1
    From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar.
    Hebrews 11:9
    By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
  6. Cross References
    Genesis 28:15
    Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.
  7. Cross References
    Genesis 13:15
    For all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.
  8. Cross References
    Micah 7:20
    You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
    Genesis 22:16 - 18
    And said, "By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son.
  9. Cross References
    Exodus 32:13
    Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'
    Genesis 15:5
    And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be.
  10. Cross References
    Genesis 12:3
    I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
  11. Cross References
    Genesis 22:18
    And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.
  12. Cross References
    Genesis 12:13
    Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.
    Genesis 20:2
    And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
    Genesis 20:13
    And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, 'This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother.'
  13. Cross References
    Proverbs 29:25
    The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
  14. Cross References
    Genesis 24:16
    The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.
  15. Cross References
    Genesis 20:9
    Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.
  16. Cross References
    Genesis 26:3
    Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.
    Genesis 24:1
    Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.
    Genesis 24:35
    The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys.
  17. Cross References
    Ecclesiastes 4:4
    Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
  18. Cross References
    Genesis 21:30
    He said, "These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.
  19. Cross References
    Genesis 21:31
    Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath.
  20. Cross References
    Genesis 21:25
    When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized.
  21. Cross References
    Genesis 17:7
    And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
    Genesis 24:12
    And he said, "O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.
    Genesis 28:13
    And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.
    Exodus 3:6
    And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
  22. Cross References
    Genesis 15:1
    After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.
    Psalms 27:1 - 3
    The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
  23. Cross References
    Genesis 28:15
    Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.
    Genesis 31:3
    Then the Lord said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.
    Genesis 21:22 - 23
    At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, "God is with you in all that you do.
  24. Cross References
    Genesis 12:7
    Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
    Genesis 13:18
    So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.
  25. Cross References
    Genesis 21:22
    At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, "God is with you in all that you do.
  26. Cross References
    Genesis 26:16
    And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.
  27. Cross References
    Genesis 24:31
    He said, "Come in, O blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.
  28. Cross References
    Genesis 21:31
    Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath.
  29. Cross References
    Genesis 21:31
    Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath.
    Genesis 22:19
    So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.
  30. Cross References
    Genesis 28:9
    Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth.
    Genesis 36:2 - 3
    Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite.
  31. Cross References
    Genesis 27:46
    Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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