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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Genesis 26 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/genesis/26.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/genesis/26-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > Genesis 26</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../genesis/25.htm" title="Genesis 25">◄</a> Genesis 26 <a href="../genesis/27.htm" title="Genesis 27">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/genesis/26.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">Isaac Deceives Abimelech</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>A severe famine now struck the land, as had happened before in Abraham’s time. So Isaac moved to Gerar, where Abimelech, king of the Philistines, lived.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt, but do as I tell you. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. I hereby confirm that I will give all these lands to you and your descendants,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars of the sky, and I will give them all these lands. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>I will do this because Abraham listened to me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, decrees, and instructions.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>So Isaac stayed in Gerar.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>When the men who lived there asked Isaac about his wife, Rebekah, he said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “They will kill me to get her, because she is so beautiful.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>But some time later, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Immediately, Abimelech called for Isaac and exclaimed, “She is obviously your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”</p><p class="reg">“Because I was afraid someone would kill me to get her from me,” Isaac replied.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>“How could you do this to us?” Abimelech exclaimed. “One of my people might easily have taken your wife and slept with her, and you would have made us guilty of great sin.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Then Abimelech issued a public proclamation: “Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be put to death!”</p><p class="hdg">Conflict over Water Rights</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>When Isaac planted his crops that year, he harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, for the LORD blessed him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>He became a very rich man, and his wealth continued to grow. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>He acquired so many flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and servants that the Philistines became jealous of him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>So the Philistines filled up all of Isaac’s wells with dirt. These were the wells that had been dug by the servants of his father, Abraham.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Finally, Abimelech ordered Isaac to leave the country. “Go somewhere else,” he said, “for you have become too powerful for us.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>So Isaac moved away to the Gerar Valley, where he set up their tents and settled down. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>He reopened the wells his father had dug, which the Philistines had filled in after Abraham’s death. Isaac also restored the names Abraham had given them.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Isaac’s servants also dug in the Gerar Valley and discovered a well of fresh water. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>But then the shepherds from Gerar came and claimed the spring. “This is our water,” they said, and they argued over it with Isaac’s herdsmen. So Isaac named the well Esek (which means “argument”). <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>Isaac’s men then dug another well, but again there was a dispute over it. So Isaac named it Sitnah (which means “hostility”). <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>Abandoning that one, Isaac moved on and dug another well. This time there was no dispute over it, so Isaac named the place Rehoboth (which means “open space”), for he said, “At last the LORD has created enough space for us to prosper in this land.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>From there Isaac moved to Beersheba, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>where the LORD appeared to him on the night of his arrival. “I am the God of your father, Abraham,” he said. “Do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you. I will multiply your descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will do this because of my promise to Abraham, my servant.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the LORD. He set up his camp at that place, and his servants dug another well.</p><p class="hdg">Isaac’s Covenant with Abimelech</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>One day King Abimelech came from Gerar with his adviser, Ahuzzath, and also Phicol, his army commander. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>“Why have you come here?” Isaac asked. “You obviously hate me, since you kicked me off your land.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>They replied, “We can plainly see that the LORD is with you. So we want to enter into a sworn treaty with you. Let’s make a covenant. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>Swear that you will not harm us, just as we have never troubled you. We have always treated you well, and we sent you away from us in peace. And now look how the LORD has blessed you!”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>So Isaac prepared a covenant feast to celebrate the treaty, and they ate and drank together. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>Early the next morning, they each took a solemn oath not to interfere with each other. Then Isaac sent them home again, and they left him in peace.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>That very day Isaac’s servants came and told him about a new well they had dug. “We’ve found water!” they exclaimed. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>So Isaac named the well Shibah (which means “oath”). And to this day the town that grew up there is called Beersheba (which means “well of the oath”).</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-34.htm"><b>34</b></a></span>At the age of forty, Esau married two Hittite wives: Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/26-35.htm"><b>35</b></a></span>But Esau’s wives made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">26:3 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">seed;</span><span class="ft"> also in 26:4, 24.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. 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