Genesis 26:9-19

9 Then Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, she is certainly thy wife; and how saidst thou, She is my sister? and Isaac said to him, Because I said, Lest I die on account of her.

10 And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done to us? But a little and one of the people might have lain with thy wife, and thou wouldest have brought a trespass on us.

11 And Abimelech charged all the people, saying, He that touches this man or his wife shall certainly be put to death.

12 And Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold; and Jehovah blessed him.

13 And the man became great, and he became continually greater, until he was very great.

14 And he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and a great number of servants; and the Philistines envied him.

15 And all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped them and filled them with earth.

16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go from us; for thou art become much mightier than we.

17 And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his camp in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

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

19 And Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit. 'found.'
• [b]. Lit. 'dust.'
• [c]. Elsewhere 'torrent;' it is a valley in which a torrent runs: see ch. 32.23.
• [d]. Lit.'living.'