Chapter 26 - Chapter 26

And when a famine came in the land, after thatbarrenness which had happened in the days ofAbraham, Isaac went to Abimelech, king of thePalestines, to Gerara.2 And the Lord appeared to him, and said:Go not down into Egypt, but stay in the landthat I shall tell thee.3 And sojourn in it, and I will be with thee,and will bless thee: for to thee and to thy seedI will give all these countries, to fulfil the oathwhich I swore to Abraham thy father.4 And I will multiply thy seed like the stars ofheaven: and I will give to thy posterity all thesecountries: and in thy seed shall all the nations32 Book of Genesisof the earth be blessed.5 Because Abraham obeyed my voice, andkept my precepts and commandments, and observed my ceremonies and laws.6 So Isaac abode in Gerara.7 And when he was asked by the men of thatplace, concerning his wife, he answered: She ismy sister: for he was afraid to confess that shewas his wife, thinking lest perhaps they wouldkill him because of her beauty.8 And when very many days were passed,and he abode there, Abimelech, king of thePalestines, looking out through a window, sawhim playing with Rebecca, his wife.9 And calling for him, he said: It is evidentshe is thy wife: why didst thou feign her to bethy sister? He answered: I feared lest I shoulddie for her sake.10 And Abimelech said: Why hast thou deceived us? Some man of the people might havelain with thy wife, and thou hadst brought uponus a great sin. And he commanded all the people, saying:11 He that shall touch this man's wife, shallsurely be put to death.12 And Isaac sowed in that land, and he foundthat same year a hundredfold: and the Lordblessed him.13 And the man was enriched, and he wenton prospering and increasing, till he became exceeding great.14 And he had possessions of sheep and ofherds, and a very great family. Wherefore thePalestines envying him,15 Stopped up at that time all the wells, thatthe servants of his father, Abraham, had digged,filling them up with earth:16 Insomuch that Abimelech himself said toIsaac: Depart from us, for thou art become muchmightier than we.17 So he departed, and came to the torrent ofGerara, to dwell there:18 And he digged again other wells, which theservants of his father, Abraham, had digged, andwhich, after his death, the Philistines had of oldstopped up: and he called them by the samenames, by which his father before had calledthem.19 And they digged in the torrent, and foundliving water:20 But there also the herdsmen of Gerarastrove against the herdsmen of Isaac, saying: It isour water. Wherefore he called the name of thewell, on occasion of that which had happened,Calumny.21 And they digged also another; and for thatthey quarrelled likewise, and he called the nameof it, Enmity.22 Going forward from thence, he digged another well, for which they contended not; therefore he called the name thereof, Latitude, saying:Now hath the Lord given us room, and made usto increase upon the earth.23 And he went up from that place toBersabee,24 Where the Lord appeared to him that samenight, saying: I am the God of Abraham thyfather, do not fear, for I am with thee: I willbless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servantAbraham's sake.25 And he built there an altar: and calledupon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent;and commanded his servants to dig a well.26 To which place when Abimelech, andOchozath his friend, and Phicol chief captain ofhis soldiers, came from Gerara,27 Isaac said to them: Why are ye come tome, a man whom you hate, and have thrust outfrom you?28 And they answered: We saw that the LordBook of Genesis 33is with thee, and therefore we said: Let there bean oath between us, and let us make a covenant,29 That thou do us no harm, as we on our parthave touched nothing of thine, nor have done anything to hurt thee; but with peace have sent theeaway, increased with the blessing of the Lord.30 And he made them a feast, and after theyhad eaten and drunk:31 Arising in the morning, they swore one toanother: and Isaac sent them away peaceably totheir own home.32 And behold, the same day the servants ofIsaac came, telling him of a well which they haddigged, and saying: We have found water.33 Whereupon he called it Abundance: andthe name of the city was called Bersabee, evento this day.34 And Esau being forty years old, marriedwives, Judith, the daughter of Beeri, the Hethite,and Basemath, the daughter of Elon, of the sameplace.35 And they both offended the mind of Isaacand Rebecca