Isaac sojourneth in Gerara, where God reneweth to him the promise made
to Abraham. King Abimelech maketh league with him.
26:1. And when a famine came in the land, after that barrenness which
had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech, king of
the Palestines, to Gerara.
26:2. And the Lord appeared to him, and said: Go not down into Egypt,
but stay in the land that I shall tell thee.
26:3. And sojourn in it, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee:
for to thee and to thy seed I will give all these countries, to fulfil
the oath which I swore to Abraham thy father.
26:4. And I will multiply thy seed like the stars of heaven: and I will
give to thy posterity all these countries: and in thy seed shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed.
26:5. Because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts and
commandments, and observed my ceremonies and laws.
26:6. So Isaac abode in Gerara.
26:7. And when he was asked by the men of that place, concerning his
wife, he answered: She is my sister: for he was afraid to confess that
she was his wife, thinking lest perhaps they would kill him because of
her beauty.
26:8. And when very many days were passed, and he abode there,
Abimelech, king of the Palestines, looking out through a window, saw
him playing with Rebecca, his wife.
26:9. And calling for him, he said: It is evident she is thy wife: why
didst thou feign her to be thy sister? He answered: I feared lest I
should die for her sake.
26:10. And Abimelech said: Why hast thou deceived us? Some man of the
people might have lain with thy wife, and thou hadst brought upon us a
great sin. And he commanded all the people, saying:
26:11. He that shall touch this man’s wife, shall surely be put to
death.
26:12. And Isaac sowed in that land, and he found that same year a
hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.
26:13. And the man was enriched, and he went on prospering and
increasing, till he became exceeding great.
26:14. And he had possessions of sheep and of herds, and a very great
family. Wherefore the Palestines envying him,
26:15. Stopped up at that time all the wells, that the servants of his
father, Abraham, had digged, filling them up with earth:
26:16. Insomuch that Abimelech himself said to Isaac: Depart from us,
for thou art become much mightier than we.
26:17. So he departed, and came to the torrent of Gerara, to dwell
there:
26:18. And he digged again other wells, which the servants of his
father, Abraham, had digged, and which, after his death, the
Philistines had of old stopped up: and he called them by the same
names, by which his father before had called them.
26:19. And they digged in the torrent, and found living water:
Torrent.... That is, a channel where sometimes a torrent or violent
stream had run.
26:20. But there also the herdsmen of Gerara strove against the
herdsmen of Isaac, saying: It is our water. Wherefore he called the
name of the well, on occasion of that which had happened, Calumny.
26:21. And they digged also another; and for that they quarrelled
likewise, and he called the name of it, Enmity.
26:22. 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 us to increase upon
the earth.
Latitude.... That is, wideness, or room.
26:23. And he went up from that place to Bersabee,
26:24. Where the Lord appeared to him that same night, saying: I am the
God of Abraham thy father, do not fear, for I am with thee: I will
bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.
26:25. And he built there an altar: and called upon the name of the
Lord, and pitched his tent; and commanded his servants to dig a well.
26:26. To which place when Abimelech, and Ochozath his friend, and
Phicol chief captain of his soldiers, came from Gerara,
26:27. Isaac said to them: Why are ye come to me, a man whom you hate,
and have thrust out from you?
26:28. And they answered: We saw that the Lord is with thee, and
therefore we said: Let there be an oath between us, and let us make a
covenant,
26:29. That thou do us no harm, as we on our part have touched nothing
of thine, nor have done any thing to hurt thee; but with peace have
sent thee away, increased with the blessing of the Lord.
26:30. And he made them a feast, and after they had eaten and drunk:
26:31. Arising in the morning, they swore one to another: and Isaac
sent them away peaceably to their own home.
26:32. And behold, the same day the servants of Isaac came, telling him
of a well which they had digged, and saying: We have found water.
26:33. Whereupon he called it Abundance: and the name of the city was
called Bersabee, even to this day.
26:34. And Esau being forty years old, married wives, Judith, the
daughter of Beeri, the Hethite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon, of
the same place.
26:35. And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebecca.