There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Ibrahim. Ishaq went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar. 2Allah appeared to him, and said, “Do not go down into Egypt. Dwell in the land which I will tell you of. 3Reside in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you, and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Ibrahim your father. 4I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will give to your seed all these lands. In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed,[1] 5because Ibrahim obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.“
6Ishaq lived in Gerar. 7The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, “She is my sister,“ for he was afraid to say, “My wife,“ lest, he thought, the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she was beautiful to look on. 8It happened, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Ishaq was caressing Rebekah, his wife. 9Abimelech called Ishaq, and said, “Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, ‘She is my sister?‘”
Ishaq said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die because of her.‘”
10Abimelech 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!“
11Abimelech charged all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.“
12Ishaq sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Allah blessed him. 13The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great. 14He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him. 15Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Ibrahim his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth. 16Abimelech said to Ishaq, “Go from us, for you are much mightier than we.“
17Ishaq departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.
18Ishaq dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Ibrahim his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Ibrahim. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them. 19Ishaq’s servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. 20The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Ishaq’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.“ He called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. 21They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. He called its name Sitnah. 22He left that place, and dug another well. They did not argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, “For now Allah has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.“
23He went up from there to Beersheba. 24Allah appeared to him the same night, and said, “I am the God of Ibrahim your father. Do not be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Ibrahim’s sake.“
25He built an altar there, and called on the name of Allah, and pitched his tent there. There Ishaq’s servants dug a well.
26Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army. 27Ishaq said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?“
28They said, “We saw plainly that Allah was with you. We said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you, 29that 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 Allah.“
30He made them a feast, and they ate and drink. 31They rose up some time in the morning, and swore one to another. Ishaq sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. 32It happened the same day, that Ishaq’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.“ 33He called it Shibah.[2] Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba[3] to this day.
34When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith Bint Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath Bint Elon the Hittite. 35They grieved Ishaq and Rebekah’s spirits.
[1] 26:4 Quoted in the Injil, Acts 3:25.
[2]26:33 Shibah means “oath“ or “seven.“
[3] 26:33 Beersheba means “well of the oath“ or “well of the seven“