Genesis 26:1–11

God’s Promise to Isaac

26Now there was a famine in the land, besides ^uthe former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to ^vAbimelech king of the ^wPhilistines. ²And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell ^xin the land of which I shall tell you. ^3ySojourn in this land, and ^zI will be with you and will bless you, for ^ato you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish ^bthe oath that I swore to Abraham your father. ^4cI will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And ^din your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, ⁵because ^eAbraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

Isaac and Abimelech

⁶So Isaac settled in Gerar. ⁷When the men of the place asked him about his wife, ^fhe said, “She is my sister,” for ^ghe feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because ^hshe was attractive in appearance. ⁸When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with¹ Rebekah his wife. ⁹So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’ ” ¹⁰Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and ⁱyou would have brought guilt upon us.” ¹¹So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”