Genesis 26:8-16
New English Translation
8 After Isaac[a] had been there a long time,[b] Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed[c] Isaac caressing[d] his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really[e] your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.”[f]
10 Then Abimelech exclaimed, “What in the world have you done to us?[g] One of the men[h] nearly took your wife to bed,[i] and you would have brought guilt on us!” 11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, “Whoever touches[j] this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”[k]
12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown,[l] because the Lord blessed him.[m] 13 The man became wealthy.[n] His influence continued to grow[o] until he became very prominent. 14 He had[p] so many sheep[q] and cattle[r] and such a great household of servants that the Philistines became jealous of[s] him. 15 So the Philistines took dirt and filled up[t] all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.
16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us and go elsewhere,[u] for you have become much more powerful[v] than we are.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Genesis 26:8 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 26:8 tn Heb “and it happened when the days were long to him there.”
- Genesis 26:8 tn Heb “window and saw, and look, Isaac.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the audience to view the scene through Abimelech’s eyes.
- Genesis 26:8 tn Or “fondling.”sn The Hebrew word מְצַחֵק (metsakheq), from the root צָחַק (tsakhaq, “laugh”), forms a sound play with the name “Isaac” right before it. Here it depicts an action, probably caressing or fondling, that indicated immediately that Rebekah was Isaac’s wife, not his sister. Isaac’s deception made a mockery of God’s covenantal promise. Ignoring God’s promise to protect and bless him, Isaac lied to protect himself and acted in bad faith to the men of Gerar.
- Genesis 26:9 tn Heb “Surely, look!” See N. H. Snaith, “The meaning of the Hebrew אַךְ,” VT 14 (1964): 221-25.
- Genesis 26:9 tn Heb “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’” Since the verb “said” probably means “said to myself” (i.e., “thought”) here, the direct discourse in the Hebrew statement has been converted to indirect discourse in the translation. In addition the simple prepositional phrase “on account of her” has been clarified in the translation as “to get her” (cf. v. 7).
- Genesis 26:10 tn Heb “What is this you have done to us?” The Hebrew demonstrative pronoun “this” adds emphasis: “What in the world have you done to us?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).
- Genesis 26:10 tn Heb “people.”tc The LXX reads τις τοῦ γένους μου (tis tou genous mou) “one of my kin.”
- Genesis 26:10 tn Heb “almost lied down with.” The verb שָׁכַב (shakhav) “to lie down” can imply going to bed to sleep or be a euphemism for sexual relations. Here the verb is modified by the prepositional phrase with כ (kaf; “like, as”) and מְעַט (meʿat; “little, brief”). When כִּמְעַט (kimʿat) modifies a perfect verb it means that someone almost did something (Ps 73:2; 119:87; Prov 5:14); with an imperfect verb it means to do something soon. This verse uses a perfect verb. Most translations employ a modal translation: “one of the people might easily (or “might soon”) have laid with your wife.” But the perfect verb is not typically modal, unless marked by other factors. The vav plus perfect consecutive (or veqatal) may be modal; or the perfect may be modal if signaled by another word such as אִם (ʾim; “if”) or לוּ or לוּלֵא (lu or luleʾ; “would that,” “unless”). If כִּמְעַט (kimʿat), which is not commonly used, can mark the perfect verb as modal, then “one of the people might have gone to bed with her” would be an appropriate translation. The options “it might have happened” and “it nearly happened” are fairly close in meaning.
- Genesis 26:11 tn Heb “strikes.” Here the verb has the nuance “to harm in any way.” It would include assaulting the woman or killing the man.
- Genesis 26:11 tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the imperfect makes the construction emphatic.
- Genesis 26:12 tn Heb “a hundredfold.”
- Genesis 26:12 tn This final clause explains why Isaac had such a bountiful harvest.
- Genesis 26:13 tn Heb “great.” In this context the statement refers primarily to Isaac’s material wealth, although reputation and influence are included.
- Genesis 26:13 tn Heb “and he went, going and becoming great.” The construction stresses that his growth in possessions and power continued steadily.
- Genesis 26:14 tn Heb “and there was to him.”
- Genesis 26:14 tn Heb “possessions of sheep.”
- Genesis 26:14 tn Heb “possessions of cattle.”
- Genesis 26:14 tn The Hebrew verb translated “became jealous of” refers here to intense jealousy or envy that leads to hostile action (see v. 15).
- Genesis 26:15 tn Heb “and the Philistines stopped them up and filled them with dirt.”
- Genesis 26:16 tn Heb “Go away from us.”
- Genesis 26:16 sn You have become much more powerful. This explanation for the expulsion of Isaac from Philistine territory foreshadows the words used later by the Egyptians to justify their oppression of Israel (see Exod 1:9).
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