The Holy Ivri Heritage Bible

1There was a famine in the land, besides the former famine in the days of Avraham. Yitzchak went to Avimelekh king of the Philistines in Gerar. 2Yahuah appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Mitzrayim. Dwell in the land that I shall tell you. 3Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. To you and your seed I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Avraham your father. 4I will multiply your seed as the stars of the shamayim, and will give to your seed all these lands. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5Because Avraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, mitzvot [commandments], My chuqqim [statutes], and My torah [instructions/laws].” 6Yitzchak dwelt in Gerar. 7The men of the place asked about Rivkah his wife, and he said: “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “She is my wife,” lest they kill him because she was beautiful. 8After he had been there a long time, Avimelekh king of Gerar looked out through a window and saw Yitzchak caressing Rivkah his wife. 9Avimelekh called Yitzchak and said: “Behold, she is your wife! Why then did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Yitzchak said: “Because I thought, lest I die on account of her.” 10Avimelekh 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.” 11Avimelekh charged all his people, saying: “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.” 12Yitzchak sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. Yahuah blessed him. 13The man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy. 14He had flocks and herds and many servants, so the Philistines envied him. 15The Philistines stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Avraham, filling them with earth. 16Avimelekh said to Yitzchak: “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.” 17Yitzchak departed and encamped in the valley of Gerar and dwelt there. 18He dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of Avraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after Avraham’s death. He called them by the names his father had given them. 19Yitzchak’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of mayim chayim [living water]. . 20The herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Yitzchak’s herdsmen, saying: “The water is ours.” He called the name of the well Esek [Contention]. 21They dug another well, and they quarreled over that also. He called its name Sitnah [Enmity]. 22He moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. He called its name Rechovot [Room], saying: “Now Yahuah has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” 23He went up from there to Be’er-Sheva [Well of the Oath]. 24Yahuah appeared to him that night and said: “I am the Elohim of Avraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your seed for My servant Avraham’s sake.” 25He built an altar there and called on the Name of Yahuah. He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well. 26Then Avimelekh came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzat his adviser and Phichol the commander of his army. 27Yitzchak said to them: “Why have you come to me, seeing you hated me and sent me away?” 28They said: “We have clearly seen that Yahuah is with you. So we said, let there now be an alah [oath] between us and you, and let us cut a berit [covenant] with you, 29That you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done nothing but good and sent you away in shalom [peace]. You are now blessed of Yahuah.” 30He made them a mishteh [feast/banquet], and they ate and drank. 31They rose early in the morning and swore an oath to one another. Yitzchak sent them away, and they departed in peace. 32That same day Yitzchak’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug, saying: “We have found water.” 33He called it Shivah [Oath]; therefore the name of the city is Be’er-Sheva to this day. 34When Esav was 40 years old, he took Judith daughter of Be’eri the Hittite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite, as wives. 35They were a bitterness of spirit to Yitzchak and Rivkah.