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Genesis 26

God carries Abraham’s covenant forward through Isaac amid famine, fear, disputes over water, and an uneasy peace with his neighbors.

A famine brings Isaac to Gerar, where YHWH tells him to stay in the land and renews the promises made to Abraham. Isaac conceals his marriage to Rebekah out of fear, and Abimelech confronts him. His crops and wealth increase, but envy and disputes over wells force him to move. At Beersheba, God reassures him, and Abimelech seeks a peace agreement. The account closes with Esau’s marriages to two Hittite women and the grief they bring Isaac and Rebekah.

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1There was a famine in the land, in addition to the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.
2The LORD appeared to him, and said, “Don’t go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about.
3Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For I will give to you, and to your offspring, all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
4I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed,
5because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
7The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “My wife”, lest, he thought, “the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at.”
8When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife.
10Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!”
11Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
12Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. The LORD blessed him.
13The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great.
14He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him.
15Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth.
16Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
18Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
19Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of flowing water.
20The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.
22He left that place, and dug another well. They didn’t argue over that one. So he called it Rehoboth. He said, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”
23He went up from there to Beersheba.
24The LORD appeared to him the same night, and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”
25He built an altar there, and called on the LORD’s name, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac’s servants dug a well.
26Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army.
27Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?”
28They said, “We saw plainly that the LORD was with you. We said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let’s make a covenant with you,
29that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.’ You are now the blessed of the LORD.”
30He made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31They rose up some time in the morning, and swore an oath to one another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
32The same day, Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.”
33He called it “Shibah”. Therefore the name of the city is “Beersheba” to this day.
34When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
35They grieved Isaac’s and Rebekah’s spirits.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Genesis 26:3God joins his command to remain in the land with his presence and the oath he swore to Abraham.
Genesis 26:12Isaac’s hundredfold harvest marks God’s blessing in a land where famine and conflict threaten his household.
Genesis 26:4The promise extends beyond Isaac’s household, linking his offspring and their land to blessing for all nations.
Where this chapter reaches

Exodus shares the covenant promise of land to Abraham’s descendants, while Hebrews recalls Isaac as an heir of the promise who lived in the promised land. Galatians takes up the promise of blessing for the nations through Abraham’s offspring and identifies its fulfillment in Christ.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do you notice about Isaac’s fear concerning Rebekah after God promises to be with him?

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How does Isaac respond to the disputed wells, and what questions does his response raise for you?

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Questions people ask about Genesis 26

Why did Isaac say Rebekah was his sister?

Verse 7 states that Isaac feared the men of Gerar would kill him because Rebekah was beautiful. Abimelech discovered their marriage when he saw Isaac caressing her. He rebuked Isaac because the deception could have led someone to take Rebekah and bring guilt on the people.

What do the wells in Genesis 26 mean?

The wells are sources of water and points of conflict over Isaac’s place in the land. Esek and Sitnah mark disputes with Gerar’s herdsmen. Rehoboth marks a well they did not contest, which Isaac understands as God making room for him. The narrative treats them as concrete provisions amid opposition.

Does Isaac’s hundredfold harvest promise wealth to believers?

Genesis 26 describes a particular harvest God gave Isaac while confirming the covenant sworn to Abraham. It does not state a general rule that faith produces wealth or hundredfold returns. Isaac’s prosperity also brings envy and expulsion, so even within this account, material abundance does not remove hardship.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).