15. For the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father by filling them with dirt.
16. Abimelek said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much more powerful than we are.”
17. So Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar and settled there.
18. Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names his father had called them.
19. But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of running water there,
20. the herdsmen of Gerar contended with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.
21. They dug another well and quarreled over that also. So he called the name of it Sitnah.
22. Then he moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called the name of it Rehoboth, for he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”
23. He went up from there to Beersheba.
24. The Lord appeared to him that same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham.”
25. He built an altar there, called on the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
26. Then Abimelek went to him from Gerar, along with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phicol the commander of his army.
27. Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”