{
  "1": "Now there was {another} severe food shortage in the region. {This was} a different shortage from the one that had happened {years} before, while Abraham was still alive. So Isaac {and his family} went {for help} to King Abimelech who ruled over the Philistines {and lived} in {the capital city of} Gerar.\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "2": "Then Yahweh appeared to Isaac and commanded {him}, “Do not go to {the country of} Egypt, {rather} stay in this land where I tell you {to live}. ",
  "3": "Live {as a foreigner} in this region, and I will stay with you and prosper you. In fact, I will give all the {surrounding} regions to you and your descendants, and I will continue {to keep} the vow that I made to your father Abraham\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "4": "that I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. I will also give them all these regions. In fact, through your descendants {I} will bless all the people groups on the earth. ",
  "5": "{I will do all that} because Abraham obeyed me and did everything that I ever commanded {him} {to do}.”\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\s1 Isaac Lies about His Wife Rebekah to the Philistines\n\\sr 26:6-11\n\\p",
  "6": "Then Isaac {did what God said and} settled {with his family} in {the city of} Gerar.",
  "7": "Now Rebekah {was} very beautiful, so the men in that city started asking {Isaac} about her. Isaac was afraid they might kill him in order to have her, so he {lied and} told {them} she {was} his sister. ",
  "8": "{One day} after Isaac had lived there a long time, the Philistines’ King Abimelech looked down from a window {of his palace} and saw to his surprise that Isaac was showing affection to his wife Rebekah.\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "9": "So Abimelech summoned Isaac and scolded {him}, “It is obvious that Rebekah {is} actually your wife! So why did you tell us that she {is} your sister?” Isaac answered him, “{I said that} because I thought someone might kill me in order to have her {as a wife}.” ",
  "10": "Then Abimelech scolded {him} {further}, “You have treated us very badly! Sooner or later, one of my men could have slept with your wife, and you would have caused us to be guilty {of adultery}!” ",
  "11": "Then {King} Abimelech warned all {his} people, “I will definitely execute anyone who harms Isaac or his wife!”\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\s1 Isaac Has Conflict with the Philistines over His Wells\n\\sr 26:12-33\n\\p",
  "12": "Isaac planted crops in that area, and that year he gathered {a huge harvest that was} a hundred times {more than what he had planted}. Yahweh continued to bless him, ",
  "13": "so that he became richer and richer until he was extremely wealthy. ",
  "14": "He owned many sheep and cattle and {he also owned} many servants. As a result, the Philistines were jealous of Isaac.\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "15": "So they filled up with dirt all the wells that the servants of his father Abraham had dug while he was {still} alive.\n\n\\p",
  "16": "Then {King} Abimelech said to Isaac, “{Please} move away from us, because you are so powerful {that you are a threat} to us.” ",
  "17": "So Isaac moved from {the city of} Gerar and pitched his tents in the Gerar Valley and stayed there {for a while}.\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "18": "Then Isaac {had his servants} dig the dirt out of the wells that Abraham’s servants had dug and {that} the Philistines had {just} filled {with dirt}. He gave the wells the same names that his father had given them.\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\p",
  "19": "Next Isaac’s servants dug {at a new place} in the valley and discovered a source of fresh water there. ",
  "20": "But the herdsmen from {the city of} Gerar argued with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “That well is ours!” So Isaac named the well Esek, {which means “argument,”} because they argued with him {about it}.\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "21": "Then Isaac’s servants dug another well, but Gerar’s herdsmen argued {with them} about that one too, so Isaac named it Sitnah, {which means “hostility.”} ",
  "22": "Then Isaac {and his family} moved from there and he {had his servants} dig a third well. {This time} Gerar’s herdsmen did not argue about it, so he named it Rehoboth, {which means “space,”} because he said, “Finally Yahweh has provided space for us, so that we will prosper in the land.”\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\p",
  "23": "From there Isaac {and his family} went south to {the city of} Beersheba. ",
  "24": "That night Yahweh appeared to him and said {to him}, “I {am} the God whom your father Abraham serves. Do not be afraid, because I {will always be} with you. I will bless you and make your descendants numerous, just as {I promised} to Abraham who serves me.” ",
  "25": "So Isaac built an altar there {at Beersheba} and worshiped Yahweh by name. He also set up his tents there, and his servants started digging {another} well there {too}.\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\p",
  "26": "Then {King} Abimelech went to Isaac from {the city of} Gerar with his adviser Ahuzzath and his army commander Phicol. ",
  "27": "Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, {especially} since you have been hostile toward me and forced me to move away from you?”\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "28": "They answered {him}, “It is very obvious to us that Yahweh is with you {and blessing you}, and we decided that we should make a vow with you {to live in peace with one another}. So {please} let us make a {peace} treaty with you, ",
  "29": "that you will never harm us, just as we never harmed you, but only treated you well and sent you away in peace. {As a result,} Yahweh has now blessed you.”\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "30": "Then Isaac prepared a feast, and they {all} ate and drank {together}. ",
  "31": "Early the next morning they got up and made vows to one another {that they would keep their treaty}. Then Isaac said goodbye to them, and they went home from him in peace.\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\p",
  "32": "That {same} day Isaac’s servants came to inform him about the well that they had been digging and announced, “We have struck water!” ",
  "33": "So Isaac named the well Shebah, {which means “vow.”} That is why {even} today the name of that city {is} still Beersheba, {which means “well of the vow.”}\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\s1 Esau’s Foreign Wives\n\\sr 26:34-35\n\\p",
  "34": "When Esau was forty years old, he married {two} Hittite women: Judith, whose father was Beeri, and Basemath, whose father was Elon. ",
  "35": "Isaac and Rebekah were very distressed that their son had married foreign women {rather than a woman from their own religion and people group}.\n\n\\ts\\*",
  "front": "\\s1 God Establishes His Covenant with Isaac\n\\sr 26:1-5\n\\p"
}