Genesis 26:1–11

The Lord’s First Promise to Isaac

¹There was a famine in the land in addition to the earlier one during Abraham’s time. So Isaac went to King Abimelech of the Philistines in Gerar. 

²The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Don’t go to Egypt. Stay where I tell you. ³Live here in this land for a while, and I will be with you and bless you. I will give all these lands to you and your descendants. I will keep the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. ⁴I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and give all these lands to your descendants. Through your descendant all the nations of the earth will be blessed. ⁵I will bless you because Abraham obeyed me and completed the duties, commands, laws, and instructions I gave him.” ⁶So Isaac lived in Gerar. 

Isaac and Rebekah at Gerar

⁷When the men of that place asked about his wife, Isaac answered, “She’s my sister.” He was afraid to say “my wife.” He thought that the men of that place would kill him to get Rebekah, because she was an attractive woman. ⁸When he had been there a long time, King Abimelech of the Philistines looked out of his window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 

⁹Abimelech called for Isaac and said, “So she’s really your wife! How could you say, ‘She’s my sister’?” 

Isaac answered him, “I thought I would be killed because of her.” 

¹⁰Then Abimelech said, “What have you done to us! One of the people might have easily gone to bed with your wife, and then you would have made us guilty of sin.” ¹¹So Abimelech ordered his people, “Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be put to death.”