God's Promise to Isaac
1
Now there was a famine in the land, besides 1the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to 2Abimelech king of the 3Philistines.
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And the LORD appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; dwell 4in the land of which I shall tell you.
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5Sojourn in this land, and 6I will be with you and will bless you, for 7to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish 8the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.
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9I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And 10in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,
Isaac and Abimelech
6
So Isaac settled in Gerar.
7
When the men of the place asked him about his wife, 12he said, "She is my sister," for 13he feared to say, "My wife," thinking, "lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah," because 14she was attractive in appearance.
8
When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing witha Rebekah his wife.
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So Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac said to him, "Because I thought, 'Lest I die because of her.'"
10
Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and 15you would have brought guilt upon us."
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So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, "Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."
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and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.
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(Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells 18that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.)
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And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we."
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So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there.
18
And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And 19he gave them the names that his father had given them.
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But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water,
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the herdsmen of Gerar 20quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." So he called the name of the well Esek,b because they contended with him.
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And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth,d saying, "For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."
23
From there he went up to Beersheba.
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And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, 21"I am the God of Abraham your father. 22Fear not, for 23I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake."
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So he 24built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well.
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When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and 25Phicol the commander of his army,
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Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and 26have sent me away from you?"
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They said, "We see plainly that the LORD has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,
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that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. 27You are now the blessed of the LORD."
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So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31
In the morning they rose early and 28exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.
32
That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, "We have found water."
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)