Genesis 26:18

A long time before this, when Isaac’s father Abraham was alive, Abraham and his workers dug lots of water-holes in that place, and Abraham gave all those water-holes names. But then, after Abraham died, the Philistia people filled up all those water-holes with dirt, so nobody could get water from them. Now, when Isaac moved there, he got his workers to take the dirt out of those water-holes, so that everybody could get water again. And Isaac gave those water-holes the same names that Abraham gave them a long time before.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

In Context

17So Isaac and his family left Gerar, and they moved their camp to a place called the Valley of Gerar, and they lived in that place for a long time.

19One day, Isaac’s workers dug a new water-hole in the valley, and they found fresh running water in that hole.

Read all of Genesis 26

Cross References

Genesis 21:31From that time on, that place was called Beersheba. That name means water-hole where they made a promise. It was where Abraham and Abimelek made strong promises to each other.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 26:13-26

Isaac's Removal to Beersheba. ( b. c. 1804.) 12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him: 13 And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: 14 For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him. 15 For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. 16 And… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 26:18