1. There was a famine in the land, in addition to the first famine that was during the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar.
2. The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land of which I will tell you.
3. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you; for I will give to you and all your descendants all these lands, and I will fulfill the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
4. I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of the heavens and will give your descendants all these lands. By your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed,
5. because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
6. So Isaac lived in Gerar.
7. The men of the place asked him about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” thinking, “The men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful in appearance.”
8. When he had been there a long time, Abimelek the king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah his wife.
9. Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is surely your wife, so how is it you said, ‘She is my sister’?”Then Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘I might die on account of her.’ ”