Genesis 26

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 There was a famine in the country -- different from the previous famine which took place in the time ofAbraham -- and Isaac went to Abimelech, the Philistine king at Gerar.	1 Then, when a famine arose over the land, after that barrenness which had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Palestinians, in Gerar.
2 Yahweh had appeared to him and said, 'Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the country which I shalpoint out to you.	2 And the Lord appeared to him, and he said: “Do not descend into Egypt, but rest in the land that I will tell you,
3 Remain for the present in that country; I shal be with you and bless you, for I shal give al thesecountries to you and your descendants in fulfilment of the oath I swore to your father Abraham.	3 and sojourn in it, and I will be with you, and I will bless you. For to you and to your offspring I will give all these regions, completing the oath that I promised to Abraham your father.
4 I shal make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven, and I shal give them al thesecountries, and al nations on earth wil bless themselves by your descendants	4 And I will multiply your offspring like the stars of heaven. And I will give to your posterity all these regions. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed,
5 in return for Abraham's obedience; for he kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and mylaws.'	5 because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts and commandments, and observed the ceremonies and the laws.”
6 So Isaac stayed at Gerar.	6 And so Isaac remained in Gerar.
7 When the people of the place asked him about his wife he replied, 'She is my sister,' for he was afraidto say, 'She is my wife,' thinking, 'The people of the place wil kil me because of Rebekah, since she is beautiful.'	7 And when he was questioned by the men of that place about his wife, he answered, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to confess her to be his mate, thinking that perhaps they would put him to death because of her beauty.
8 When he had been there some time, Abimelech the Philistine king happened to look out of the windowand saw Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah.	8 And when very many days had passed, and he had remained in the same place, Abimelech, king of the Palestinians, gazing through a window, saw him being playful with Rebekah, his wife.
9 Abimelech summoned Isaac and said to him, 'Surely she must be your wife! How could you have said,"She is my sister"?' Isaac replied, 'Because I thought I might be kil ed on her account.'	9 And summoning him, he said: “It is clear that she is your wife. Why did you falsely claim her to be your sister?” He answered, “I was afraid, lest I might die because of her.”
10 Abimelech said, 'What a thing to do to us! One of the people might easily have slept with your wife.We should have incurred guilt, thanks to you.'	10 And Abimelech said: “Why have you burdened us? Someone from the people could have lain with your wife, and you would have brought a great sin upon us.” And he instructed all the people, saying,
11 Then Abimelech issued this order to al the people: 'Whoever touches this man or his wife wil be putto death.'	11 “Whoever will touch the wife of this man will die a death.”
12 Isaac sowed his crops in that country, and that year he reaped a hundredfold. Yahweh blessed him	12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and he found, in that same year, one hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him.
13 and the man became rich; he prospered more and more until he was very rich indeed.	13 And the man was enriched, and he continued prospering as well as increasing, until he became very great.
14 He acquired flocks and herds and a large retinue. The Philistines began to envy him.	14 Likewise, he had possessions of sheep and of herds, and a very large family. Because of this, the Palestinians envied him,
15 The Philistines had blocked up al the wel s dug by his father's servants -- in the days of his fatherAbraham -- fil ing them in with earth.	15 so, at that time, they obstructed all the wells that the servants of his father Abraham had dug, filling them with soil.
16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, 'You must leave us, for you have become much more powerful thanwe are.'	16 It reached a point where Abimelech himself said to Isaac, “Move away from us, for you have become very much more powerful than we.”
17 So Isaac left; he pitched camp in the Val ey of Gerar and there he stayed.	17 And departing, he then went toward the torrent of Gerar, and he dwelt there.
18 Isaac reopened the wel s dug by the servants of his father Abraham and blocked up by thePhilistines after Abraham's death, and he gave them the same names as his father had given them.	18 Again, he dug up other wells, which the servants of his father Abraham had dug, and which, after his death, the Philistines had formerly obstructed. And he called them by the same names that his father had called them before.
19 But when Isaac's servants, digging in the val ey, found a wel of spring-water there,	19 And they dug in the torrent, and they found living water.
20 the herdsmen of Gerar disputed it with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, 'That water is ours!' So Isaacnamed the wel Esek, because they had disputed with him.	20 But in that place also the shepherds of Gerar argued against the shepherds of Isaac, by saying, “It is our water.” For this reason, he called the name of the well, because of what had happened, ‘Calumny.’
21 They dug another wel , and there was a dispute over that one too; so he named it Sitnah.	21 Then they dug up yet another one. And over that one also they fought, and he called it, ‘Enmity.’
22 Then he left there, and dug another wel , and since there was no dispute over this one, he named itRehoboth, saying, 'Now Yahweh has made room for us to thrive in the country.'	22 Advancing from there, he dug another well, over which they did not contend. And so he called its name, ‘Latitude,’ saying, “Now the Lord has expanded us and caused us to increase across the land.”
23 From there he went up to Beersheba.	23 Then he ascended from that place into Beersheba,
24 Yahweh appeared to him the same night and said: I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not beafraid, for I am with you. I shall bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake.	24 where the Lord appeared to him on the same night, saying: “I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you, and I will multiply your offspring because of my servant Abraham.”
25 There he built an altar and invoked the name of Yahweh. There he pitched his tent, and there Isaac'sservants sank a wel .	25 And so he built an altar there. And he invoked the name of the Lord, and he stretched out his tent. And he instructed his servants to dig a well.
26 Abimelech came from Gerar to see him, with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of hisarmy.	26 When Abimelech, and Ahuzzath, his friend, and Phicol, the leader of the military, had arrived from Gerar to that place,
27 Isaac said to them, 'Why do you come to me since you hate me, and have made me leave you?'	27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, a man whom you hate, and whom you have expelled from among you?”
28 'It became clear to us that Yahweh was with you,' they replied, 'and so we thought, "It is time to havea treaty sworn between us, between us and you." So let us make a covenant with you:	28 And they responded: “We saw that the Lord is with you, and therefore we said: Let there be an oath between us, and let us initiate a pact,
29 that you will not do us any harm, since we never molested you but were unfailingly kind to you andlet you go away in peace. Henceforth, Yahweh's blessing on you!'	29 so that you may not do us any kind of harm, just as we have touched nothing of yours, and have not caused any injury to you, but with peace we released you, augmented by the blessing of the Lord.”
30 He then made them a feast and they ate and drank.	30 Therefore, he made them a feast, and after the food and drink,
31 Early next morning, they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac bade them farewell and they left him asfriends.	31 arising in the morning, they swore to one another. And Isaac sent them away peacefully to their own place.
32 It happened, the same day, that Isaac's servants brought him news about the well they had beendigging. 'We have found water!' they said to him.	32 Then, behold, on the same day the servants of Isaac came, reporting to him about a well which they had dug, and saying: “We have found water.”
33 So he cal ed the wel Sheba, and hence the town is named Beersheba to this day.	33 Therefore, he called it, ‘Abundance.’ And the name of the city was established as ‘Beersheba,’ even to the present day.
34 When Esau was forty years old he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemathdaughter of Elon the Hittite.	34 In truth, at forty years of age, Esau took wives: Judith, the daughter of Beeri, the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon, of the same place.
35 These were a bitter disappointment to Isaac and Rebekah.	35 And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebekah.