¹ And there came to be a famine in the land, besides the first famine which happened in the days of Abraham,—so Isaac went his way unto Abimelech, king of the Philistines towards Gerar;

² and Yahweh appeared unto him, and said, do not go down towards Egypt,—Make thy habitation in the land, which I may name unto thee:

³ Sojourn in this land, that I may be with thee and bless thee,—for, to thee, and to thy seed, will I give all these lands, So will I establish the oath which I sware to Abraham thy father;

⁴ and will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and will give to thy seed, all these lands,—And all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves in thy seed:

⁵ Because that Abraham hearkened unto my voice,—and so kept my charge, my commandments my statutes and my laws.

⁶ So Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

⁷ Then asked the men of the place as to his wife, and he said, My sister, is she,—For he feared to say My wife, lest [said he] the men of the place should slay me on account of Rebekah, for fair to look on, she is.

⁸ And it came to pass when the days had lengthened out to him there, that Abimelech king of the Philistines, looked out through the lattice of a window,—and he beheld and lo! Isaac—laughing with Rebekah his wife.

⁹ So Abimelech called for Isaac, and said, But lo she is, thy wife! How then, saidst thou, She is, my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because, I said, Lest I die on her account.

¹⁰ Then, said, Abimelech, What is this thou hast done to us? A little more, and one of the people might have lien with thy wife, so shouldst thou have brought upon us, guilt.

¹¹ And Abimelech commanded all the people saying,—He that toucheth 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,—seeing that Yahweh had blessed him.

¹³ So the man waxed great,—and went on and on waxing great until that he had waxed exceeding great.

¹⁴ So he came to have possessions of flocks and possessions of herds, and a large body of servants,—and the Philistines envied him.

¹⁵ And as for all the wells which the servants of his father digged, in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped them up, and filled them with dust.

¹⁶ And Abimelech said unto Isaac,—Get thee from us, for thou hast become far mightier than we.

¹⁷ So Isaac went from thence,—and encamped in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

¹⁸ And Isaac again digged the wells of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father, and which the Philistines stopped up after the death of Abraham,—and he called their names, after the names which his father called them.

¹⁹ And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley,—and found there a well of living water.

²⁰ And the herdmen of Gerar disputed with the herdmen of Isaac saying, Ours, is the, water! So he called the name of the well Esek, because they had stirred up a quarrel with him.

²¹ And they digged another well, and they disputed over that also,—so he called the name thereof Sitnah.

²² And he moved on from thence and digged another well, and they disputed not for it,—so he called the name thereof. Rehoboth, and said, For, now, hath Yahweh made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

²³ And he went up from thence, to Beer-sheba.

²⁴ And Yahweh appeared unto him the same night, and said, I, am the God of Abraham thy father,—Do not fear for with thee, am, I, And I will bless thee and multiply thy seed, For the sake of Abraham my servant.

²⁵ So he builded there all altar and called on the name of Yahweh, and spread out there, his tent,—and the servants of Isaac cut out there a well.

²⁶ And, Abimelech, came unto him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol, commander of his host.

²⁷ And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore have ye come in mite me, seeing that, ye, hated me, and sent me away from you?

²⁸ And they said: We, saw plainly, that Yahweh was with thee, so we said, Let there be we pray thee an oath betwixt us both, betwixt us and thee,—and let us solemnise a covenant with thee:—

²⁹ That, thou wilt not do wrong by us, according as we touched not thee, and according as we did by thee nothing but good, and then sent thee away in peace, thee who, now, art blessed of Yahweh!

³⁰ So he made for them a banquet, and they did eat and drink,—

³¹ and rose up early in the morning, and took an oath each man to his brother, so Isaac let them go, and they departed from him in peace.

³² And it came to pass, on the same day, that the servants of Isaac came in, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said to him, We have found water!

³³ So he called it, Shibah. For this cause, hath the name of the city, been Beer-sheba, unto this day.

³⁴ And when Esau was forty years old, he took to wife Judith, daughter of Beeri. the Hittite; and Basemath, daughter of Elon, the Hittite;

³⁵ and they became a bitterness of spirit, to Isaac and to Rebekah.