Genesis 26

All 35 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.

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1. 1A famine struck the land — a different one from the earlier famine during Abraham's time. So Isaac traveled to Gerar, to Abimelech, king of the Philistines.
2. 2The LORD appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt. Stay in the land that I direct you to."
3. 3Live in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. To you and your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will fulfill the oath I swore to your father Abraham.
4. 4"I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and give them all these lands. Through your descendants, every nation on earth will be blessed."
5. 5"This is because Abraham listened to my voice and followed my instructions, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
6. 6So Isaac settled in Gerar.
7. 7When the local men asked about his wife, he told them, "She is my sister." He was afraid to say she was his wife, thinking, "The men here might kill me to get Rebekah, because she is beautiful."
8. 8After he had been there for a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look down from a window and saw Isaac showing affection to his wife Rebekah.
9. 9Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, "She is clearly your wife! Why did you tell us she was your sister?" Isaac replied, "Because I thought I might be killed on account of her."
10. 10Abimelech said, "What have you done to us? Someone could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us."
11. 11So Abimelech issued a command to all his people: "Anyone who touches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death."
12. 12Isaac planted crops in that land and harvested a hundredfold that same year. The LORD blessed him.
13. 13He became increasingly prosperous and continued to grow wealthier until he was extremely rich.
14. 14He owned flocks, herds, and a large number of servants, and the Philistines became jealous of him.
15. 15All the wells that his father Abraham's servants had dug, the Philistines had plugged up and filled with dirt.
16. 16Abimelech told Isaac, "Leave our territory, because you have become far more powerful than we are."
17. 17So Isaac moved away from there and set up camp in the valley of Gerar, where he settled.
18. 18Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug during his father Abraham's lifetime, which the Philistines had filled in after Abraham died. He gave them the same names his father had given them.
19. 19Isaac's servants dug in the valley and discovered a well fed by fresh, flowing water.
20. 20The herders of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herders, claiming, "This water belongs to us." So he named the well Esek, because they had disputed with him.
21. 21They dug yet another well, and there was conflict over that one too. So he named it Sitnah.
22. 22He moved on from there and dug another well. No one fought over this one, so he named it Rehoboth, saying, "Now the LORD has made room for us, and we will prosper in this land."
23. 23From there he traveled up to Beersheba.
24. 24That very night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."
25. 25He built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD. He set up his tent in that place, and his servants dug a well there.
26. 26Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar, along with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol, the commander of his army.
27. 27Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?"
28. 28They answered, "We have clearly seen that the LORD is with you. So we proposed that there should be a sworn agreement between us, yes, between us and you, and that we should establish a covenant with you."
29. 29"Promise that you will not harm us, just as we never mistreated you but only treated you well and sent you away peacefully. You are now blessed by the LORD."
30. 30Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank together.
31. 31They got up early the next morning and made sworn promises to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him peacefully.
32. 32That same day, Isaac's servants came to him with news about the well they had been digging. They said, "We have found water!"
33. 33He named it Shebah. That is why the city has been called Beersheba to this day.
34. 34When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
35. 35These marriages brought great sorrow to Isaac and Rebekah.