²²At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army, ^ksaid to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. ^l²³Swear to me by God here and now, that you will not break an agreement with me or with my children and descendants. As I have been loyal to you, so you will be loyal to me and to the country where you are a foreign resident.”

²⁴And Abraham said, “I swear it.” ²⁵But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the water well that Abimelech’s servants had seized. ^m

²⁶Abimelech replied, “I don’t know who did this thing. You didn’t report anything to me, so I hadn’t heard about it until today.”

²⁷Abraham took sheep and cattle ⁿand gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. ^o²⁸Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock. ²⁹And Abimelech said to Abraham, “Why have you separated these seven ewe lambs?”

³⁰He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand so that this act ^pwill serve as my witness that I dug this well.” ³¹Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba ^q^rbecause it was there that the two of them swore an oath. ³²After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.

³³Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God. ^s

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Footnotes

n21:27 A covenant or treaty was regularly ratified by animal sacrifice (Gn 8:20–9:9; 15:9–17; Ex 24:8) and often involved an exchange of gifts (1Kg 15:19; Hs 12:1). The animals here could serve both purposes.
p21:30 that it
q21:31 = Well of the Oath, or Seven Wells

Cross references

k21:22 Gn 20:2; 26:1, 26
l21:22 Gn 26:28
m21:25 Gn 26:15, 18, 20–22
o21:27 Gn 26:31
r21:31 Gn 26:33
s21:33 Ps 45:6; 48:14; 90:2; 93:2; Is 40:28; Jr 10:10; Rm 16:26; Heb 13:8