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

2 A nd the LORD appeared unto him and said, Do not go down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of;

3 a bide 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 lands, and I will confirm the oath which I swore unto Abraham thy father;

4 a nd I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven and will give unto thy seed all these lands, and in thy seed shall all the Gentiles of the earth be blessed

5 b ecause Abraham hearkened unto my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

6 ¶ Therefore Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

7 A nd the men of that 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.

8 A nd it came to pass, when he had been there a long time that Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looking out a window, saw Isaac sporting with Rebekah, his wife.

9 A nd Abimelech called Isaac and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife; and how didst thou say, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die because of her.

10 A nd Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? One of the people might easily have slept with thy wife, and thou should have brought the sin upon us.

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

12 ¶ Then Isaac sowed in that land and received in the same year one hundred-fold, and the LORD blessed him.

13 A nd the man waxed great and went forward and grew until he became very great,

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

15 F or all the wells which his father’s slaves had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them and filled them with earth.

16 A nd Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us, for thou art become much mightier than we.

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

18 A nd Isaac reopened the wells of water, which they had opened in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham, and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

19 A nd Isaac’s slaves dug in the valley and found there a well of living waters.

20 A nd the pastors of Gerar strove with Isaac’s pastors, saying, The water is ours; therefore he called the name of the well Esek, because they strove with him.

21 A nd they opened another well and strove for that one also; and he called the name of it Sitnah.

22 A nd he left there and opened another well; and for that one they did not strive 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.

23 A nd he went up from there unto Beersheba.

24 A nd 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 slave Abraham’s sake.

25 A nd he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s slaves opened a well.

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

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

28 A nd they said, We have seen certainly that the LORD is with thee; and we said, Let there be now an oath between us, even between us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee,

29 t hat 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.

30 A nd he made them a banquet, and they ate and drank.

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

32 A nd it came to pass the same day that Isaac’s slaves came and told him concerning the well which they had opened and said unto him, We have found water.

33 A nd he called it Shebah, therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.

34 ¶ And 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:

35 W ho were bitterness of spirit unto Isaac and to Rebekah.