Genesis 26:1-11

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Isaac and Abimelech

26 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to King Abimelech of the Philistines.^{(A) 2} The Lord appeared to Isaac^[a] and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; settle in the land that I shall show you.^{(B) 3} Reside in this land as an alien, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will fulfill the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.^{(C) 4} I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth shall gain blessing for themselves through your offspring,^{(D) 5} because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

⁶ So Isaac settled in Gerar. ⁷ When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say “my wife,” thinking, “or else the men of the place might kill me for the sake of Rebekah, because she is attractive in appearance.”^{(E) 8} When Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw him fondling his wife Rebekah. ⁹ So Abimelech called for Isaac and said, “So she is your wife! Why, then, did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought I might die because of her.” ¹⁰ Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”^{(F) 11} So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall be put to death.”