- And there was a famine in the land,
besides the former famine, which was in
the time of Abraam; and Isaac went to
Abimelech the king of the Phylistines to
Gerara.
- And the Lord appeared to him
and said, Go not down to Egypt but dwell
in the land, which I shall tell thee of.
- And sojourn in this land; and I will be
with thee, and bless thee, for I will give
to thee and to thy seed all this land; and I
will establish my oath which I swore to
thy father Abraam.
- And I will multiply
thy seed as the stars of heaven and I
will give to thy seed all this land, and all
the nations of the earth shall be blest in
thy seed.
- Because Abraam thy father
hearkened to my voice, and kept my
injunctions, and my commandments, and my
ordinances, and my statutes.
- And Isaac
dwelt in Gerara.
- And the men of the
place questioned him concerning Rebecca
his wife, and he said, She is my sister, for
he feared to say, She is my wife, lest at any
time the men of the place should slay him
because of Rebecca, because she was sup>[a] fair.
- And he remained there a long time, and
Abimelech the king of Gerara leaned to
look through the window, and saw Isaac
sporting with Rebecca his wife.
- And
Abimelech called Isaac, and said to him,
Is she then thy wife? why hast thou said,
she is my sister? And Isaac said to him,
I did so, for I said, Lest at any time I die
on her account.
- And Abimelech said to
him, Why hast thou done this to us? one
of my kindred [b] within a little had lain
with thy wife, and thou wouldest have
brought a sin of ignorance upon us.
- And
Abimelech charged all his people, saying,
Every man that touches this man and
his wife shall be liable to death.
- And
Isaac sowed in that land, and he found
in that year barley an hundred-fold, and
the Lord blessed him.
- And the man
was exalted, and advancing he increased,
till he became very great.
- And he had
cattle of sheep, and cattle of oxen, and
many tilled lands, and the Phylistines
envied him.
- And all the wells which the
servants of his father had dug in the time
of his father the Phylistines stopped them,
and filled them with earth.
- And Abimelech said to Isaac, Depart from us, for
thou art become much mightier than we.
- And Isaac departed thence, and rested
in the valley of Gerara, and dwelt there.
- And Isaac dug again the wells of water,
which the servants of his father Abraam
had dug, and the Phylistines had stopped
them, after the death of his father Abraam;
and he gave them names according to the
names by which his father named them.
- And the servants of Isaac dug in the
valley of Gerara, and they found there a
well of living water.
- And the shepherds
of Gerara strove with the shepherds of
Isaac saying that the water was theirs;
and they called the name of the well, Injury,
for they injured him.
- And having departed thence he dug another well, and
they strove also for that; and he named
the name of it, Enmity.
- And he departed
thence and dug another well; and they
did not strive about that; and he named
the name of it, Room, saying, Because now
the Lord has made room for us, and has
increased us upon the earth.
- And he went up thence to the well
of the oath.
- And the Lord appeared
to him in that night, and said, I am the
God of Abraam thy father; fear not, for
I am with thee, and I will bless thee, and
multiply thy seed for the sake of Abraam
thy father.
- And he built there an altar,
and called on the name of the Lord, and
there he pitched his tent, and there the
servants of Isaac dug a well in the valley
of Gerara.
- And Abimelech came to him
from Gerara, and so did Ochozath his
[c] friend and Phichol the
commander-in-chief of his army.
- And Isaac said to
them, Wherefore have ye come to me?
whereas ye hated me, and sent me away
from you.
- And they said, We have surely
seen that the Lord was with thee, and
we said, Let there be an oath between
us and thee, and we will make a covenant
with thee,
- that thou shalt do no wrong
by us, as we have not abhorred thee, and
according as we have treated thee well
and have sent thee forth peaceably; and
now thou art blessed of the Lord.
- And
he made a feast for them, and they ate
and drank.
- And they arose in the
morning, and swore each to his neighbour; and
Isaac sent them forth, and they departed
from him in safety.
- And it came to pass
in that day, that the servants of Isaac
came and told him of the well which
they had dug; and they said, We have
not found water.
- And he called it, Oath:
therefore he called the name of that city,
the Well of Oath, until this day.
- And Esau was forty years old; and
he took to wife Judith the daughter of
Beoch the Chettite, and Basemath,
daughter of Helon the [d] Chettite.
- And they
were provoking to Isaac and Rebecca.
[a] Gr. fair of countenance.
[b] q.d. had almost.
[c] Gr. numfagwgo/j. q.d. he that gives away in marriage.
[d] Alex. Hivite.
[English translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee
Brenton (1807-1862) originally published by Samuel Bagster & Sons,
Ltd., London, 1851]