(BA) Genesis 26

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The text below is adapted from the Jewish Publication Society translation of 1917.

And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar. 2 And Y' appeared to him, and said, Do not go down in Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell you of. 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for to you, an to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath with I swore to Abraham your father; 4 and I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will give to your seed all these lands; and by your seed all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves; 5 because Abraham listened to my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 7 And the men of the place asked him of his wife, and he said, She is my sister; for he feared to say, My wife; lest the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah, because she is fair to look upon. 8 And then, when he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, sporting with Rebekah his wife.

9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, surely she is your wife. How did you say, She is my sister?

And Isaac said to him, Because I said, Lest I die because of her.

10 And Abimelech said, What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.

11 And Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death. 12 And Isaac sowed in that land, and found in the same year a hundredfold, and Y' blessed him. 13 And the man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great. 14 And he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and a great household; and the Philistines envied him.

15 Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go from us; because you are much stronger than we.

17 And Isaac left there, and encamped in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, because 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 And Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of flowing water. 20 And the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, The water is ours. And he called the name of te well Esek, because they contended with him. 21 And they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also. And he called its name Sitnah.

22 And he went on from there, and dug another well, and over that they did not quarrel. And he called its name Rehoboth, and he said, For now Y' has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

23 And he went up from there to Beer Sheba. 24 And Y' appeared to him the same night, and said, I am the god of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you, and I will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham's sake. 25 And he built an altar there, and called upon the name of Y', and pitched his tent there, and there Isaac's servants dug a well.

26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his forces. 27 And Isaac said to them, Why have you come to me, seeing you hate me, and have sent me away from you?

28 And they said, We saw clearly that Y' was with you, and we said, Let there now be an oath between us, between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of Y'.

30 And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 And they rose up early in the morning, and swore to one another, and Isaac sent them away, and they went from him in peace. 32 Then, on that very day, Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, We have found water. 33 And he called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Beer Sheba to this day.

34 And when Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 And they were a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.

(26:8) "sporting". Whatever precisely Isaac was up to with his wife, it is described in Hebrew by a verb of the root ṣḥq, which appears frequently in the stories about Isaac (Hebrew yṣḥq).

(26:19) "flowing water". Literally, "living water".

(26:20) "Esek". The JPS defines this as meaning "Contention".

(26:21) "Sitnah". The JPS defines this as meaning "Enmity".

(26:22) "Rehoboth". The JPS defines this as meaning "Room".

JPS. The 1917 edition of the Hebrew Bible by the Jewish Publication Society.

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