The Lord promises Isaac posterity as the stars of heaven in number—In his seed all nations shall be blessed—The Lord prospers Isaac, temporally and spiritually, for Abraham’s sake—Isaac offers sacrifices—Esau marries Hittite wives to the sorrow of his parents.

 AND there was a ^afamine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto ^bAbimelech^• king of the ^cPhilistines^• unto Gerar.

 And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:

 ^aSojourn^• in this land, and I will be with thee, and will ^bbless^• thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these ^ccountries, and I will perform the ^doath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

 And I will make thy ^aseed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the ^bnations of the earth be blessed;

 Because that Abraham ^aobeyed^• my voice, and kept my ^bcharge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

 ¶ And Isaac dwelt in ^aGerar^•:

 And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my ^asister^•: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was ^bfair^• to look upon.

 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.

 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.

 And ^aAbimelech^• said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have ^blien^• with thy wife, and thou shouldest have ^cbrought^• guiltiness upon us.

 And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an ^ahundredfold^•: and the LORD ^bblessed^• him.

 ^aAnd^• the man waxed ^bgreat^•, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:

 For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines ^aenvied^• him.

 For all the ^awells^• which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines ^bhad^• stopped them, and filled them with earth.

 And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much ^amightier^• than we.

 ¶ And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their ^anames^• after the names by which his father had called them.

 And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

 And the herdmen of Gerar did ^astrive^• with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well ^bEsek^•; because they strove with him.

 And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it ^aSitnah^•.

 And he ^aremoved from thence, and digged another well; and for that they ^bstrove^• not: and he called the name of it ^cRehoboth^•; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be ^dfruitful^• in the land.

 And he went up from thence to ^aBeer^•-sheba.

 And the ^aLORD^• appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: ^bfear^• not, for ^cI^• am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy ^dseed for my servant Abraham’s sake.

 And he builded an ^aaltar^• there, and called upon the ^bname of the LORD and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well.

 ¶ Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and ^aPhichol^• the chief captain of his army.

 And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye ^ahate me, and have sent me away from you?

 And they said, We saw certainly that the ^aLORD^• was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;

 That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in ^apeace: thou art now the ^bblessed^• of the LORD.

 And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.

 And they ^arose^• up betimes in the morning, and ^bsware^• one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

 And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water.

 And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is ^aBeer^•-sheba unto this day.

 ¶ And Esau was forty years old when he took to ^awife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:

 Which were a ^agrief^• of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.