HolyStudy
Bible IndexRead BibleNotesChurchesMissionPrivacyTermsContact
© 2026 HolyStudy
HomeRead BibleBible NotesChurchesSign in
HolyStudy
HomeRead BibleBible NotesChurches
Sign in

Genesis 26

1

And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.

2

And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:

3

Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

4

And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

5

Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

6

And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:

7

And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.

8

And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.

9

And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.

10

And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.

11

And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

12

Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.

13

And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:

14

For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.

15

For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.

16

And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.

17

And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

18

And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

1
19

And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

20

And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.

21

And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.

22

And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

23

And he went up from thence to Beer–sheba.

24

And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.

25

And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well.

26

Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.

27

And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?

28

And they said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;

29

That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the Lord.

30

And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.

31

And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

32

And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water.

33

And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beer–sheba unto this day.

34

And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:

35

Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.

← Previous ChapterNext Chapter →

Genesis 26

Genesis 26 is the only chapter in Genesis focused primarily on Isaac, and it shows a man who is both the recipient of a remarkable inheritance and someone still working out what faith looks like in his own generation. God appears to Isaac, reaffirms the Abrahamic covenant, and tells him not to go to Egypt — stay in the land, trust My promise. Isaac stays, but he also repeats his father's mistake, passing off Rebekah as his sister out of fear. Abimelech (likely a title rather than the same man from Abraham's time) discovers the truth and rebukes him. Despite this failure, God blesses Isaac so abundantly that the Philistines envy him and ask him to leave. Isaac digs wells — a persistence and patience that eventually leads to open ground and room. He calls it Rehoboth: the Lord has made room for us. God reaffirms the covenant again that night, and Isaac builds an altar. Each generation must personally encounter and respond to the God of their parents.

Genesis 26:1

Now there was a famine in the land — besides the previous famine in Abraham's time — and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. The same pattern that drove Abraham to Egypt in Genesis 12 and then to Gerar in Genesis 20 now appears for Isaac: famine, movement toward Philistine territory. The narrator notes this is different from the famine of Abraham's time — a new generation, a new test, but the same kind of test. The application: the tests that formed previous generations tend to appear in subsequent ones. The famine is different; the temptation it creates is the same.

Genesis 26:2

The LORD appeared to Isaac and said: do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. The divine instruction is precisely the opposite of Abraham's choice in Genesis 12:10. Isaac is told explicitly: not Egypt. Stay in the promised land. The instruction is the covenant map — the promised land is where the covenant person belongs, even in famine. John 15:4 calls for remaining in the vine — the same principle of staying in the covenant place even when circumstances suggest departure. The application: the instruction to stay in the hard place is sometimes more important than the permission to find a better one.

Genesis 26:3

Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. The covenant confirmation to Isaac is the first time the Abrahamic covenant is explicitly renewed in the second generation. The elements are the same: stay here, I will be with you, I will bless you, I will give you the land. Hebrews 13:5 quotes the promise: I will never leave you or forsake you. The application: the covenant confirmed to the next generation is the same covenant — same presence, same blessing, same land — newly spoken to the new inheritor.

Genesis 26:4

I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed. The Abrahamic promises — stars, land, blessing for all nations — are explicitly given to Isaac. Galatians 3:16 identifies the singular offspring as Christ. The covenant promise is renewed, extended, and confirmed in each generation until it reaches its fulfillment in the one offspring who blesses all nations. The application: each generation receives the covenant promise as if it were new, because for them it is.

Genesis 26:5

Because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees, and my instructions. The grounding of the covenant renewal in Abraham's obedience is significant — but it is not merit-based. The obedience of Abraham is the life that expressed faith, not the basis for the original promise. The covenant was given by grace; the obedience honored the covenant. Romans 4:3 insists that Abraham was credited with righteousness by faith, not by works. The application: obedience is the response to grace, not the cause of it. Abraham's obedience is the testimony, not the transaction.

Genesis 26:6

So Isaac stayed in Gerar. The obedience is simple and complete. The instruction was to stay in the land; Isaac stays. The covenant person who stays in the hard place when instructed to stay is displaying the same obedience as the one who goes when instructed to go. The application: sometimes the most significant act of faithfulness is staying when everything suggests leaving. Isaac stays in Gerar.

Genesis 26:7

When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, she is my sister, because he was afraid to say, she is my wife. He thought, the men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful. The third wife-sister episode is now Isaac repeating his father's pattern exactly. The same fear, the same calculation, the same deception — two generations in, the same compromise. Romans 7:19-20 describes the patterns of sin that recur despite good intentions. The application: the sin-patterns of parents that are not confronted are available to the children as ready-made responses to the same fears.

Genesis 26:8

When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. The deception is exposed through observation rather than through the dangerous episode of Genesis 20. Abimelek sees through the window what Isaac has been hiding. Numbers 32:23 warns that your sin will find you out. The application: sustained deception in a contained community eventually produces the visible evidence that exposes it. Isaac thought he could maintain the fiction; Abimelek looks down from a window.

Genesis 26:9

So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said: she is really your wife! Why did you say she is my sister? Isaac answered: because I thought I might lose my life on account of her. The same confrontation that Abimelech made to Abraham in Genesis 20:9 is made to Isaac. The same question, the same exposure, the same admission of fear. The pagan king is again the morally clearer party in the exchange. Matthew 5:8 promises that the pure in heart will see God — Abimelek's consistent moral clarity across two generations is the testimony of natural law at work. The application: the same fear that drove your parents to compromise is available to drive you there too. Name it and resist it differently.

Genesis 26:10

Then Abimelek said: what is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us. The hypothetical consequence is the real danger: one of the men might have slept with Rebekah unknowingly, bringing guilt on the community. The communal impact of individual deception is Abimelek's concern — he is thinking about the harm to his people, not just to himself. The application: personal deceptions always have communal consequences. Abimelek articulates what Abraham and Isaac failed to think about: the innocent parties who are endangered by the lie.

Genesis 26:11

So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: anyone who harms this man or his wife shall surely be put to death. The protective decree from Abimelek is the covenant person's safety secured by a pagan king's justice. The protection Abraham and Isaac sought through deception is given freely — and more securely — through Abimelek's authority. The application: the protection you try to manufacture through dishonesty is sometimes available through the honest use of legitimate authority. The decree secures what the deception could not.

Genesis 26:12

Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him. The agricultural abundance is the covenant blessing made visible in the promised land: a hundredfold return in a famine year. Luke 8:8 records the parable of the sower's hundredfold return as an image of the kingdom's fruitfulness. The application: the blessing of the LORD on the covenant person's work in the right place exceeds all reasonable expectation. A hundredfold return in a famine year is not agricultural achievement; it is covenant provision.

Genesis 26:13

The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. The progressive description — rich, then grew, then very wealthy — traces the trajectory of the covenant blessing. The wealth is not incidental but the visible evidence of what was promised in verse 3: I will bless you. The application: the blessing that is promised to the covenant person in the hard place is not delayed until the hard place ends. It arrives in the hard place, making the hard place itself the site of abundance.

Genesis 26:14

He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. The envy of the surrounding peoples is the testimony to the covenant blessing visible from the outside. Genesis 12:2 promised that Abram's name would be great — Isaac's name is great among the Philistines, not because of his virtue but because of his abundance. Proverbs 14:30 notes that envy rots the bones; the Philistines' response to Isaac's blessing is the bone-rotting envy that will drive the conflict of the next verses. The application: the visible blessing on the covenant person will generate both admiration and envy. Prepare for both.

Genesis 26:15

So all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth. The filling of the wells is the act of aggressive territorial competition: the Philistines cannot bear the visible evidence of Isaac's superior position. Wells are survival infrastructure in the Negev — stopping them is an attempt to drive Isaac away. The application: those who cannot match your success sometimes attempt to destroy the infrastructure that produces it. The wells of Abraham are being stopped because Isaac's inheritance has become intolerable to those who observe it.

Genesis 26:16

Then Abimelek said to Isaac: move away from us; you have become too powerful for us. The request to leave is the formal expulsion of the covenant person from the place of his blessing. The same dynamic will characterize Israel's relationship with Pharaoh in Exodus: the blessing that initially produces welcome eventually produces expulsion when it becomes threatening. The application: the covenant person's increasing power in a place not their own eventually generates the pressure to leave. This is not failure — it is the beginning of the movement toward a place of their own.

Genesis 26:17

So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. The compliance with Abimelek's request is without complaint or confrontation. Isaac moves without argument. The pattern of the covenant person in a foreign land is to comply with the host's authority while maintaining the covenant integrity. Romans 13:1 calls for submission to governing authorities. The application: moving when asked to move — without the drama of confrontation or the spirit of resentment — is the covenant person's posture in a land that is not yet fully theirs.

Genesis 26:18

Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them. The reopening of the wells is the reclamation of the inheritance — the work of restoring what the previous generation built and what hostile forces have stopped up. The giving of the same names is the act of honoring the heritage: these are Abraham's wells, and Isaac claims them by name. The application: part of the covenant life is the reclamation and restoration of what the previous generation built. The wells of Abraham are worth reopening. What has your generation been asked to reclaim?

Genesis 26:19

Isaac's servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. The discovery of fresh water — living water — is the sign of covenant provision in a new location. The valley where Isaac settles after the expulsion becomes its own place of provision. John 4:10-14 uses living water as the image of the Spirit's provision — the freshwater wells of Genesis are the physical anticipation of that spiritual reality. The application: the places you are driven to by opposition sometimes turn out to be the places where new provision is discovered.

Genesis 26:20

But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said: the water is ours! So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. The opposition continues: the fresh water Isaac's servants find is immediately claimed by the Philistine herders. The name Esek means dispute — the well is named after the conflict it generates. Proverbs 17:14 warns that starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam. The application: the resources God provides in a contested land will face competing claims. The covenant person names the dispute honestly before moving on.

Genesis 26:21

Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. Sitnah means opposition. The second well generates the same response: opposition, quarrel, another name marking the conflict. The pattern of dig-dispute-move is Isaac's response to persistent opposition: he does not fight for the wells but moves. The application: not every contested resource is worth fighting for. Isaac's strategy — name the conflict, move on, dig again — is the strategy of a person who knows that the covenant God will provide the space to settle eventually.

Genesis 26:22

He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying: now the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land. Rehoboth means spacious places or room. The third well is the uncontested one — the place where the covenant person is finally allowed to settle without opposition. The naming is a declaration of faith: now the LORD has given us room. The application: the persistence that digs three wells before finding the uncontested one is the persistence that eventually receives the room. The covenant person does not give up; they dig again.

Genesis 26:23

From there he went up to Beersheba. The movement to Beersheba — the city named for the covenant Abraham made with Abimelek in Genesis 21:31 — is the movement to the place of the covenant's previous confirmation. Isaac is returning to the geography of his father's faithfulness. The application: the places where God confirmed the covenant to previous generations are worth returning to. Beersheba carries the weight of what Abraham did there.

Genesis 26:24

That night the LORD appeared to him and said: I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham. The theophany at Beersheba is the covenant confirmation Isaac has been pressing toward across the chapter. The assurance — do not be afraid — and the covenant content — bless you, increase your descendants — are grounded in the covenant with Abraham. The application: the covenant God identifies himself to each new generation through the covenant with the previous one. I am the God of your father Abraham is the word of continuity.

Genesis 26:25

Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well. The three acts of covenant presence — altar, tent, well — are the same three acts that characterized Abraham in Genesis 12:7-8 and 13:18. Worship, dwelling, provision. Isaac is his father's son in all three. The application: the marks of covenant presence are the same across generations: worship (altar), faithfulness (tent), provision (well). Are these three marks present in your own settled life?

Genesis 26:26

Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. The same cast from Genesis 21:22 and 21:32 returns to Isaac: Abimelek and Phicol, seeking a new treaty. The pattern established between Abraham and Abimelek is repeated in the next generation. The application: the relationships your parents established will tend to require renewal in your generation. The treaty of Abraham and Abimelek must become the treaty of Isaac and Abimelek.

Genesis 26:27

Isaac asked them: why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away? The question is honest and direct: you expelled me; now you're here. The directness of Isaac's question is the directness of a man who knows his own story and names it without resentment but without pretense. Ephesians 4:15 calls for speaking the truth in love. The application: naming the history of a relationship honestly — you were hostile to me — is the foundation for a renewed relationship that is genuinely different from the previous one.

Genesis 26:28

They answered: we saw clearly that the LORD was with you; so we said, there ought to be a sworn agreement between us — between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you. The testimony of Abimelek's delegation — we saw clearly that the LORD was with you — is the external witness to the covenant blessing. The same observation made in Genesis 21:22 is made again: God is with you. The practical consequence is a treaty request. The application: the visible covenant blessing on your life creates a reputation that precedes you into new relationships and new negotiations.

Genesis 26:29

They propose that Isaac will do them no harm, just as they have done him no harm and have always treated him well. The treaty language claims a history of benevolence: we treated you well. Isaac might dispute the characterization — they did stop his father's wells — but the formal language of treaty-making graciously frames the relationship in its best terms. The application: the treaty language that begins with the best version of the shared history is the treaty language that creates a foundation for future cooperation, not ongoing grievance.

Genesis 26:30

Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. The covenant meal seals the treaty — the same pattern as Abraham's covenant with Abimelek in Genesis 21:27-31. The feast is the act of hospitality that marks the transition from negotiation to covenant. Luke 15:23-24 pictures feasting as the sign of covenant restoration. The application: the feast that follows reconciliation is not incidental but integral. The eating together is the covenant sealed.

Genesis 26:31

Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace. The morning oath and the peaceful departure are the formal completion of the treaty. The word peace — shalom — appears at the end: the conflict that drove Isaac from Gerar has been resolved into a formal covenant of peace. Romans 12:18 calls for living at peace with everyone as far as it depends on you. The application: the persistent patience of the covenant person — digging wells, naming conflicts, moving on, building altars — eventually produces the treaty that restores peace.

Genesis 26:32

That day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said: we've found water! The well confirmation on the same day as the treaty is the text's declaration that the covenant life is comprehensive: peace with the surrounding peoples (the treaty) and provision from the land (the water) arrive together. The application: the full covenant life involves both the horizontal dimension (peace with neighbors) and the vertical dimension (provision from God). When both arrive on the same day, receive them with gratitude.

Genesis 26:33

He called it Shibah, and to this day the city is called Beersheba. The renaming of Beersheba — shibah means oath or seven — connects to the original naming in Genesis 21:31. The city of covenant is confirmed again in the next generation. The application: the covenant places are renamed by the new generation's covenant acts. What Beersheba was for Abraham, Beersheba is also for Isaac.

Genesis 26:34

When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. The transition to Esau's marriages is abrupt and its implication is immediate: Esau marries Canaanite women. The explicit prohibition of Canaanite intermarriage that Abraham gave his servant in Genesis 24:3 is violated by Esau. Genesis 28:1 will confirm that Isaac explicitly prohibits this. The application: Esau's marriages are the chapter's closing statement about his character: he is indifferent to covenant concern, choosing by physical attraction what he should choose by covenant discernment.

Genesis 26:35

They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah. The grief is the consequence of Esau's indifference to covenant life. The same man who sold his birthright for stew now brings into the family two women who will bring grief to his parents. Proverbs 17:25 describes the grief a foolish child brings to a father and mother. The application: the consequences of the birthright sale in Genesis 25:34 and the Canaanite marriages in this verse are the accumulating evidence that Esau despises the covenant inheritance.