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Genesis 26

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Part of Isaac and Jacob📖 Genesis introduction

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1There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar. ✦ 2Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. ✦ 3Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. ✦ 4And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; ✦ 5because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” ✦ 6So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. ✦ 7And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister”; for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.” ✦ 8Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife. ✦ 9Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ ” 10And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.” ✦ 11So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.” ✦ 12Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. ✦ 13The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; ✦ 14for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him. ✦ 15Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. ✦ 16And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.” ✦ 17Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 18And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them. ✦ 19Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there. ✦ 20But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him. ✦ 21Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah. ✦ 22And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” ✦ 23Then he went up from there to Beersheba. ✦ 24And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.” ✦ 25So he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well. ✦ 26Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army. ✦ 27And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” ✦ 28But they said, “We have certainly seen that the Lord is with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you, ✦ 29that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.’ ” ✦ 30So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. ✦ 31Then they arose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. ✦ 32It came to pass the same day that Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” ✦ 33So he called it Shebah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. ✦ 34When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. ✦ 35And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Where this chapter connects

Gen 21 ·15Gen 12 ·12Gen 26 ·11Gen 20 ·9Gen 24 ·9Gen 22 ·8Gen 13 ·7Gen 17 ·6

Christ at the center

From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.

How Genesis 26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

  • ★ Start hereDocumentaryExpedition BibleJoel Kramer · Free · evangelical

    On-location biblical archaeology from a credentialed archaeologist (M.A., excavated in Israel) — the best free place to start on "did it really happen?"

  • ★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical

    A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

  • ★ Start hereVideoOverview: Genesis 1–11BibleProject · 9 min · Free

    The single best free starting point for Genesis 1–11 — clear, visual, and faithful to the literary design.

  • VideoSpoken GospelSpoken Gospel · Free · evangelical

    Short, gospel-centered videos and spoken-word poems showing how each passage points to Jesus — especially strong on the Old Testament.

  • ReferenceBook of Genesis — Visual GuideBibleProject · Free

    A free structured guide to the whole book — outline, themes, and links to each video.

  • DocumentaryIs Genesis History?Del Tackett · Free · evangelical

    A young-earth-creationist case for a literal Genesis, free on YouTube. (YEC is one view held by faithful Christians; others read Genesis differently — see the genre guide on how to read it.)

Pastoral

  • SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical

    Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

  • ★ Start hereCommentaryGenesis (Word Biblical Commentary)Gordon J. Wenham · Paid · evangelical

    For decades the gold-standard commentary on Genesis — technical but rich. (See the ranked list for alternatives like Hamilton, NICOT.)

  • BookThe Pentateuch as NarrativeJohn H. Sailhamer · ~560 pp · Library · evangelical

    A literary-theological reading that makes Genesis's design visible.

Commentaries & study tools

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