Chapter 26

  And when a famine came in the land, after that barrenness which had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Palestines to Gerara.  

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  And the Lord appeared to him and said: Go not down into Egypt, but stay in the land that I shall tell thee.  

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  And sojourn in it, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee: for to thee and to thy seed I will give all these countries, to fulfill the oath which I swore to Abraham thy father.  

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  And I will multiply thy seed like the stars of heaven: and I will give to thy posterity all these countries: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.  

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  Because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts and commandments, and observed my ceremonies and laws.  

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  So Isaac abode in Gerara.  

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  And when he was asked by the men of that place, concerning his wife, he answered: She is my sister; for he was afraid to confess that she was his wife, thinking lest perhaps they would like him because of her beauty.  

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  And when very many days were passed, and he abode there, Abimelech king of the Palestines looking out through a window, saw him playing with Rebecca his wife.  

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  And calling for him, he said: It is evident she is thy wife: why didst thou feign her to be thy sister? He answered: I feared lest I should die for her sake.  

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  And Abimelech said: Why hadst thou deceived us? Some man of the people might have lain with thy wife, and thou hadst brought upon us a great sin. And he commanded all the people, saying:  

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  He that shall touch this man's wife, shall surely be put to death.  

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  And Isaac sowed in that land, and he found that same year a hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.  

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  And the man was enriched, and he went on prospering and increasing, till he became exceeding great:  

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  And he had possessions of sheep and of herds, and a very great family. Wherefore the Palestines envying him,  

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  Stopped up at that time all the wells, that the servants of his father Abraham had digged, filling them up with earth:  

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  Insomuch that Abimelech himself said to Isaac: Depart from us, for thou art become much mightier than we.  

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  So he departed and came to the torrent of Gerara, to dwell there:  

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  And he digged again other wells, which the servants of his father Abraham had digged, and which, after his death, the Palestines had of old stopped up: and he called them by the same names by which his father before had called them.  

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  And they digged in the torrent, and found living water.  

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  But there also the herdsmen of Gerara strove against the herdsmen of Isaac, saying: It is our water. Wherefore he called the name of the well, on occasion of that which had happened, Calumny.  

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  And they digged also another; and for that they quarreled likewise, and he called the name of it, Enmity.  

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  Going forward from thence, he digged another well, for which they contended not: therefore he called the name thereof, Latitude, saying: Now hath the Lord given us room, and made us to increase upon the earth.  

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  And he went up from that place to Bersabee,  

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  Where the Lord appeared to him that same might, saying: I am the God of Abraham thy father; do not fear, for I am with thee: I will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.  

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  And he built there an altar: and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent: and commanded his servants to dig a well.  

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  To which place when Abimelech, and Ochozath his friend, and Phicol chief captain of his soldiers came from Gerara,  

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  Isaac said to them: Why are ye come to me, a man whom you hate, and have thrust out from you?  

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  And they answered: We saw that the Lord is with thee, and therefore we said: Let there be an oath between us, and let us make a covenant,  

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  That thou do us no harm, as we on our part have touched nothing of thine, nor have done any thing to hurt thee: but with peace have sent thee away increased with the blessing of the Lord.  

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  And he made them a feast, and after they had eaten and drunk:  

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  Arising in the morning, they swore one to another: and Isaac sent them away peaceably to their own home.  

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  And behold the same day the servants of Isaac came, telling him of a well which they had digged, and saying: We have found water.  

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  Whereupon he called it Abundance: and the name of the city was called Bersabee, even to this day.  

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  And Esau being forty years old, married wives, Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hethite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon of the same place.  

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  And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebecca.  

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