10. “How could you do this to us?” Abimelech exclaimed. “One of my people might easily have taken your wife and slept with her, and you would have made us guilty of great sin.”
11. Then Abimelech issued a public proclamation: “Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be put to death!”
12. When Isaac planted his crops that year, he harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, for the lord blessed him.
13. He became a very rich man, and his wealth continued to grow.
14. He acquired so many flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and servants that the Philistines became jealous of him.
15. So the Philistines filled up all of Isaac’s wells with dirt. These were the wells that had been dug by the servants of his father, Abraham.
16. Finally, Abimelech ordered Isaac to leave the country. “Go somewhere else,” he said, “for you have become too powerful for us.”
17. So Isaac moved away to the Gerar Valley, where he set up their tents and settled down.
18. He reopened the wells his father had dug, which the Philistines had filled in after Abraham’s death. Isaac also restored the names Abraham had given them.
19. Isaac’s servants also dug in the Gerar Valley and discovered a well of fresh water.
20. But then the shepherds from Gerar came and claimed the spring. “This is our water,” they said, and they argued over it with Isaac’s herdsmen. So Isaac named the well Esek (which means “argument”).
21. Isaac’s men then dug another well, but again there was a dispute over it. So Isaac named it Sitnah (which means “hostility”).
22. Abandoning that one, Isaac moved on and dug another well. This time there was no dispute over it, so Isaac named the place Rehoboth (which means “open space”), for he said, “At last the lord has created enough space for us to prosper in this land.”
23. From there Isaac moved to Beersheba,
24. where the lord appeared to him on the night of his arrival. “I am the God of your father, Abraham,” he said. “Do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you. I will multiply your descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will do this because of my promise to Abraham, my servant.”