16. Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave our country. You have become more powerful than we are.”
17. So Isaac left and set up his camp in the Valley of Gerar, where he stayed for some time.
18. He dug once again the wells which had been dug during the time of Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death. Isaac gave the wells the same names that his father had given them.
19. Isaac's servants dug a well in the valley and found water.
20. The shepherds of Gerar quarrelled with Isaac's shepherds and said, “This water belongs to us.” So Isaac named the well “Quarrel”.
21. Isaac's servants dug another well, and there was a quarrel about that one also, so he named it “Enmity”.
22. He moved away from there and dug another well. There was no dispute about this one, so he named it “Freedom”. He said, “Now the Lord has given us freedom to live in the land, and we will be prosperous here.”
23. Isaac left and went to Beersheba.
24. That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid; I am with you. I will bless you and give you many descendants because of my promise to my servant Abraham.”
25. Isaac built an altar there and worshipped the Lord. Then he set up his camp there, and his servants dug another well.
26. Abimelech came from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army to see Isaac.
27. So Isaac asked, “Why have you now come to see me, when you were so unfriendly to me before and made me leave your country?”