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Now there was {another} severe food shortage in the region. {This was} a different shortage from the one that had happened {years} before, while Abraham was still alive. So Isaac {and his family} went {for help} to King Abimelech who ruled over the Philistines {and lived} in {their capital city of} Gerar. 2 Then Yahweh appeared to Isaac and commanded {him}, "Do not go to {the country of} Egypt, {rather} stay in this land where I tell you {to live}. 3 {Yes,} live {as a foreigner} in this land and I will stay with you and bless you. In fact, I will give you and your descendants all these lands, and I will continue {to keep} the promise I made to your father Abraham 4 that I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. I will also give them all these lands, and through your Descendant I will bless all the people groups on the earth. 5 {I will do all that} because Abraham obeyed me and did everything that I ever commanded {him} {to do}.”6 Then Isaac {did what God said and} settled in {the city of} Gerar.
7 Now Rebekah was very beautiful, so the men in that city started asking {Isaac} about her. Isaac was afraid they might kill him in order to have her, so he {lied and} told {them} she was his sister. 8 {One day} after Isaac had lived there a long time, the Philistines' King Abimelech looked down from a window {of his palace} and saw to his surprise that Isaac was showing affection to his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and scolded {him}, "It is obvious that Rebekah is your wife! So why did you tell us that she is your sister?” Isaac answered him, "{I said that} because I thought someone might kill me in order to have her {as a wife}.” 10 Then Abimelech scolded {him} {further}, "You have treated us very badly! Sooner or later, one of my men could have slept with your wife, and you would have caused us to be guilty {of adultery}!” 11 Then {King} Abimelech warned all {his} people, "I will definitely execute anyone who harms Isaac or his wife!”
12 Isaac planted crops in that area, and that year he gathered {a huge harvest that was} a hundred times {more than what he had planted}. Yahweh continued to bless him, 13 so that he became richer and richer until he was extremely wealthy. 14 He owned many sheep and cattle and {he also owned} many servants. As a result, the Philistines were jealous of Isaac. 15 So they filled up with dirt all the wells that the servants of his father Abraham had dug while he was {still} alive.
16 Then {King} Abimelech said to Isaac, "{Please} move away from us, because you are so powerful {that you are a threat} to us.” 17 So Isaac moved from {the city of} Gerar and pitched his tents in the Gerar Valley and stayed there {for a while}. 18 Then Isaac {had his servants} dig the dirt out of the wells that Abraham's servants had dug and that the Philistines had {just} filled {with dirt}. He gave the wells the same names that his father had given them.
19 Next Isaac's servants dug {at a new place} in the valley and discovered a source of fresh water there. 20 But the herdsmen from {the city of} Gerar argued with Isaac's herdsmen and said, "That well is ours!” So Isaac named the well Esek {which means "argument”}, because they argued with him {about it}. 21 Then Isaac's servants dug another well, but Gerar's herdsmen argued {with them} about that one too, so Isaac named it Sitnah {which means "hostility”}. 22 Then Isaac {and his family} moved from there and he {had his servants} dig a third well. {This time} Gerar's herdsmen did not argue about it, so he named it Rehoboth {which means "space"}, because he said, "Finally Yahweh has provided space for us so that we will prosper in the land.”
23 From there Isaac {and his family} went south to {the city of} Beersheba. 24 That night Yahweh appeared to him and said {to him}, "I am the God whom your father Abraham serves. Do not be afraid, because I am with you. I will bless you and make your descendants numerous, just as {I promised} to Abraham who serves me.” 25 So Isaac built an altar there {at Beersheba} and worshiped Yahweh by name. He also set up his tents there, and his servants started digging {another} well there {too}.
26 Then {King} Abimelech went to Isaac from {the city of} Gerar with his adviser Ahuzzath and his army commander Phicol. 27 Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, {especially} since you have been hostile toward me and forced me to move away from you?” 28 They answered {him}, "It is very obvious to us that Yahweh is with you {and blessing you}, and we decided that we should make a vow with you {to live in peace with one another}. So {please} let us make a {peace} treaty with you, 29 that you will never harm us, just as we never harmed you, but only treated you well and sent you away in peace. {As a result,} Yahweh has now blessed you.” 30 Then Isaac prepared a feast, and they {all} ate and drank {together}. 31 Early the next morning they got up and made vows to one another {that they would keep their treaty}. Then Isaac said goodbye to them, and they went home from him in peace.
32 That {same} day Isaac's servants came to inform him about the well that they were digging and announced, "We have struck water!” 33 So Isaac named the well Shibah {which means "vow”}. That is why {even} today the name of that city is still Beersheba {which means "well of the vow"}.