King James Version, Updated™

(1) There was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar.

(2) And the LORD appeared to him, and said, "Do not go down to Egypt. Dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.

(3) Dwell in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you, and to your descendants, I will give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.

(4) I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give to your descendants all these lands. And in your descendants shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,

(5) because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

(6) So Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

(7) When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," for he feared to say, "She is my wife," he thought, "lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she was beautiful to look upon."

(8) And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window, and behold, he saw Isaac was caressing Rebekah his wife.

(9) So Abimelech called Isaac, and said, "Behold, truly she is your wife. Why did you say, 'She is my sister?'" And Isaac said to him, "Because I said, 'Lest I die because of her.'"

(10) Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us."

(11) So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, "He that touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."

(12) Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him.

(13) And the man became great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great.

(14) For he had possessions of flocks and of herds, and great number of servants, and the Philistines envied him.

(15) Now all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them up, and filled them with earth.

(16) And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we."

(17) So Isaac departed from there, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

(18) And Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called their names by the same names which his father had called them.

(19) Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well there of spring water.

(20) But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." Thus he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him.

(21) So they dug another well, and quarreled over that also. He called the name of it Sitnah.

(22) And he moved from there, and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over that one. He called the name of it Rehoboth, and he said, "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.

(24) And the LORD appeared to him the same night, and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not fear, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your descendants for my servant Abraham’s sake."

(25) So he built an altar there, and called on the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there. And Isaac’s servants dug a well there.

(26) Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.

(27) And Isaac said to them, "Why have YOU come to me, seeing that YOU hate me, and have sent me away from you?"

(28) Then they said, "We saw certainly that the LORD was with you, and we said, 'Let there be an oath between us, between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you,

(29) that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you. We have done nothing to you but good, and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.'"

(30) And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.

(31) Then they rose up early in the morning, and swore one to another, and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

(32) It came to pass the same day, that Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water."

(33) And he called it Shebah, therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

(34) Esau was 40 years old when he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

(35) They grieved the spirits of Isaac and Rebekah.