1 A nd 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.

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

3 S ojourn 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;

4 A nd 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;

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

6 A nd Isaac dwelt in Gerar:

7 A nd 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.

8 A nd 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.

9 A nd 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.

10 A nd 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.

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

12 T hen Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: 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, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.

15 F or 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.

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

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

18 A nd 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.

19 A nd Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

20 A nd 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.

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

22 A nd 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.

23 A nd he went up from thence to 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 servant Abraham's sake.

25 A nd 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.

26 T hen 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, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?

28 A nd 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;

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 feast, and they did eat and drink.

31 A nd they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware 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 servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, 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 A nd 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 hich were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.