Genesis 26:9-19

9 Abimelech called for Isaac and said, "This woman is your wife. Why did you say she was your sister?" Isaac said to him, "I was afraid you would kill me so you could have her."

10 Abimelech said, "What have you done to us? One of our men might have had sexual relations with your wife. Then we would have been guilty of a great sin."

11 So Abimelech warned everyone, "Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be put to death."

12 Isaac planted seed in that land, and that year he gathered a great harvest. The Lord blessed him very much,

13 and he became rich. He gathered more wealth until he became a very rich man.

14 He had so many slaves and flocks and herds that the Philistines envied him.

15 So they stopped up all the wells the servants of Isaac's father Abraham had dug. (They had dug them when Abraham was alive.) The Philistines filled those wells with dirt.

16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Leave our country because you have become much more powerful than we are."

17 So Isaac left that place and camped in the Valley of Gerar and lived there.

18 Long before this time Abraham had dug many wells, but after he died, the Philistines filled them with dirt. So Isaac dug those wells again and gave them the same names his father had given them.

19 Isaac's servants dug a well in the valley, from which a spring of water flowed.

Genesis 26:9-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 26

This chapter treats of Isaac's removal to Gerar, occasioned by a famine, Ge 26:1; of the Lord's appearance to him there, advising him to sojourn in that place, and not go down to Egypt; renewing the covenant he had made with Abraham, concerning giving that country to him and his seed, Ge 26:2-6; of what happened unto him at Gerar on account of his wife, Ge 26:7-11; of Isaac's great prosperity and success, which drew the envy of the Philistines upon him, Ge 26:12-15; of his departure from hence to the valley of Gerar, at the instance of Abimelech; and of the contentions between his herdsmen, and those of Gerar, about wells of water, which caused him to remove to Beersheba, Ge 26:16-23; of the Lord's appearance to him there, renewing the above promise to him, where he built an altar, pitched his tent, and his servants dug a well, Ge 26:24,25; of Abimelech's coming to him thither, and making a covenant with him, Ge 26:26-31; which place had its name from the oath then made, and the well there dug, Ge 26:32,33; and lastly, of the marriage of Esau, which was a great grief to Isaac and Rebekah, Ge 26:34,35.