Genesis 26:12-25

Christian Standard Bible

Conflicts over Wells

¹² Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped^[a] a hundred times what was sown. The Lord blessed him,^{(A) 13} and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy. ¹⁴ He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were envious of him. ¹⁵ Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham,^(B) filling them with dirt. ¹⁶ And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us, for you are much too powerful for us.”^[b]

¹⁷ So Isaac left there, camped in the Gerar Valley, and lived there. ¹⁸ Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. He gave them the same names his father had given them. ¹⁹ Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of spring^[c] water there. ²⁰ But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek^[d] because they argued with him.^{(C) 21} Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also, so he named it Sitnah.^{[e] 22} He moved from there and dug another, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth^[f] and said, “For now the Lord has made space for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

The Lord Appears to Isaac

²³ From there he went up to Beer-sheba, ²⁴ and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham.^(D) Do not be afraid, for I am with you.^(E) I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of my servant Abraham.”

²⁵ So he built an altar there,^(F) called on the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there. Isaac’s servants also dug a well there.^(G)