26
Isaac Lives at Gerar
1There was another famine in the land besides the earlier one during the time of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. 2The Lord had appeared to Isaac and had said, “Do not go to Egypt; stay in this land, where I tell you to stay. 3#Gn 22.16-18 Live here, and I will be with you and bless you. I am going to give all this territory to you and to your descendants. I will keep the promise I made to your father Abraham. 4I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, and I will give them all this territory. All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants. 5I will bless you, because Abraham obeyed me and kept all my laws and commands.”
6So Isaac lived at Gerar. 7#Gn 12.13; 20.2 When the men there asked about his wife, he said that she was his sister. He would not admit that she was his wife, because he was afraid that the men there would kill him to get Rebecca, who was very beautiful. 8When Isaac had been there for some time, King Abimelech looked down from his window and saw Isaac and Rebecca making love. 9Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is your wife! Why did you say she was your sister?”
He answered, “I thought I would be killed if I said she was my wife.”
10“What have you done to us?” Abimelech said. “One of my men might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have been responsible for our guilt.” 11Abimelech warned all the people: “Anyone who mistreats this man or his wife will be put to death.”
12Isaac sowed crops in that land, and that year he harvested a hundred times as much as he had sown, because the Lord blessed him. 13He continued to prosper and became a very rich man. 14Because he had many herds of sheep and cattle and many servants, the Philistines were jealous of him. 15So they filled in all the wells which the servants of his father Abraham had dug while Abraham was alive.
16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave our country. You have become more powerful than we are.” 17So Isaac left and set up his camp in Gerar Valley, where he stayed for some time. 18He dug once again the wells which had been dug during the time of Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death. Isaac gave the wells the same names that his father had given them.
19Isaac's servants dug a well in the valley and found water. 20The shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's shepherds and said, “This water belongs to us.” So Isaac named the well “Quarrel.”
21Isaac's servants dug another well, and there was a quarrel about that one also, so he named it “Enmity.” 22He moved away from there and dug another well. There was no dispute about this one, so he named it “Freedom.” He said, “Now the Lord has given us freedom to live in the land, and we will be prosperous here.”
23Isaac left and went to Beersheba. 24That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid; I am with you. I will bless you and give you many descendants because of my promise to my servant Abraham.” 25Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. Then he set up his camp there, and his servants dug another well.
The Agreement between Isaac and Abimelech
26 # Gn 21.22 Abimelech came from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army to see Isaac. 27So Isaac asked, “Why have you now come to see me, when you were so unfriendly to me before and made me leave your country?”
28They answered, “Now we know that the Lord is with you, and we think that there should be a solemn agreement between us. We want you to promise 29that you will not harm us, just as we did not harm you. We were kind to you and let you go peacefully. Now it is clear that the Lord has blessed you.” 30Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31Early next morning each man made his promise and sealed it with a vow. Isaac said good-bye to them, and they parted as friends.
32On that day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug. They said, “We have found water.” 33He named the well “Vow.” That is how the city of Beersheba#26.33: Beersheba: This name in Hebrew means “Well of the Vow” or “Well of Seven” (see also 21.31). got its name.
Esau's Foreign Wives
34When Esau was forty years old, he married two Hittites, Judith the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath the daughter of Elon. 35They made life miserable for Isaac and Rebecca.
Since the beginning of time, God communicates with us. For this, the Holy Bible is a very powerful vehicle, since it is the word of the Lord embodied in black on white. As you know, there are several versions of the Holy Scriptures, made in pursuit of a better understanding of the word of the Lord. In the version 'Good News Translation US Version' we find that the chapter 26 of the Genesis is shown to us in the way that we can see below.
The book Genesis of the Bible has 50 chapters. And in the chapter 26 we can find 35 verses, in which God reveals his teachings to us and indicates to us through his immense wisdom, love and goodness, the way in which we should act and approach Him.
We have no doubt that reading the chapter 26 of the book Genesis of the version 'Good News Translation US Version' of the Holy Bible it will be easy for you to understand how our beloved Father never leaves us alone, and that in the texts he left for us it is possible to find all the answers that need. Remember that you can always read the chapter 26 in one of the other versions of the Bible that we have for you, although it is a very interesting exercise that you have now chosen to read the chapter 26 of the version 'Good News Translation US Version' of the Holy Bible.