Isake ndi Abimeleki
1Tsono kunagwa njala ina mʼdzikomo kuwonjezera pa ija ya poyamba ya nthawi ya Abrahamu ndipo Isake anapita kwa Abimeleki mfumu ya Afilisti ku Gerari. 2Yehova anadza kwa Isake nati, “Usapite ku Igupto; koma ukhale mʼdziko limene ndidzakuwuza kuti ukakhalemo. 3Khala mʼdziko lino ndipo ndidzakhala nawe ndi kukudalitsa. Pakuti kwa iwe ndi zidzukulu zako ndidzapereka mayiko onsewa. Choncho ndidzakwaniritsa pangano limene ndinalumbira kwa Abrahamu, abambo ako. 4Zidzukulu zako ndidzazichulukitsa ngati nyenyezi za mu mlengalenga ndi kuzipatsa mayiko onsewa. Ndiponso anthu onse a pa dziko lapansi adzadalitsika kudzera mwa zidzukulu zako, 5chifukwa Abrahamu anandimvera, nasunga malamulo anga onse.” 6Choncho Isake anakhala ku Gerari.
7Anthu akumaloko atafunsa Isake za mkazi wake, iye anati, “Ndi mlongo wanga ameneyu.” Iye anaopa kunena kuti, “Ndi mkazi wanga ameneyu,” popeza ankaganiza kuti anthu akumeneku akhoza kumupha ndi kukwatira mkazi wake popeza Rebeka anali wokongola.
8Isake atakhalako kumeneko nthawi yayitali, Abimeleki mfumu ya Afilisti, anasuzumira pa zenera kuyangʼana kunja, ndipo anaona Isake akugwiragwira Rebeka, mkazi wake. 9Choncho Abimeleki anamuyitanitsa Isake nati, “Uyu ndi mkazi wako ndithu! Nanga bwanji umati, ‘Ndi mlongo wanga’?”
Ndipo Isake anamuyankha kuti, “Ine ndimaganiza kuti ndingataye moyo wanga chifukwa cha iyeyu.”
10Tsono Abimeleki anati, “Nʼchiyani chimene watichitira? Mmodzi mwa anthuwa anatsala pangʼono kugona ndi mkazi wako ndipo ukanatisandutsa ife kukhala olakwa.”
11Choncho Abimeleki analamula anthu ake onse nati, “Aliyense amene avutitse munthu uyu pamodzi ndi mkazi wake adzaphedwa ndithu.”
12Isake anadzala mbewu mʼmunda, ndipo chaka chomwecho anakolola zinthu zambiri chifukwa Yehova anamudalitsa. 13Isake analemera. Chuma chake chinkachulukirachulukira mpaka anasanduka munthu wolemera kwambiri. 14Anali ndi nkhosa, ngʼombe ndi antchito ambiri mwakuti Afilisti anamuchitira nsanje. 15Nthawi iyi nʼkuti Afilisti atakwirira ndi dothi zitsime zonse zimene antchito abambo ake Abrahamu anakumba mu nthawi ya abambo akewo.
16Ndipo Abimeleki anati kwa Isake, “Muchoke pakati pathu chifukwa mwasanduka wamphamvu kuposa ife.”
17Choncho Isake anachokako kumeneko nakakhala ku chigwa cha Gerari kumene anakhazikikako. 18Isake anafukulanso zitsime zija zimene zinakumbidwa mu nthawi ya abambo ake Abrahamu. Atamwalira Abrahamu, Afilisti anakwirira zitsimezi. Tsono anazitcha mayina omwewo amene abambo ake anazitcha.
19Antchito a Isake anakumba mʼchigwamo ndipo anapezamo kasupe wa madzi. 20Koma abusa a ku Gerari anakangana ndi abusa a Isake nati, “Madziwa ndi athu.” Motero iye anachitcha chitsimecho Mkangano chifukwa anakangana naye. 21Kenaka iwo anakumba chitsime china, koma anakangananso chifukwa cha chitsimecho. Choncho anachitcha dzina lakuti Chidani. 22Anachokapo pamenepo nakakumba china. Koma apa sanakanganiranenso ndi munthu. Iye anachitcha Kutakasuka, nati, “Tsopano Yehova watipatsa ife malo otakasukirako ndipo tilemera muno.”
23Kenaka Isake anachoka ku malo kuja kupita ku Beeriseba. 24Usiku umenewo Yehova anadza kwa Isake nati, “Ine ndine Mulungu wa abambo ako Abrahamu. Usachite mantha popeza Ine ndili ndi iwe. Ndidzakudalitsa ndipo ndidzakupatsa zidzukulu zambiri chifukwa cha mtumiki wanga Abrahamu.”
25Isake anamanga guwa lansembe pamenepo ndipo anapembedza Yehova. Pomwepo anamanga tenti yake, ndipo antchito ake anakumba chitsime.
26Abimeleki pamodzi ndi Ahuzati mlangizi wake ndi Fikolo mkulu wa ankhondo ake anabwera kwa Isake kuchokera ku Gerari. 27Tsopano Isake anawafunsa kuti, “Bwanji mwabwera kwa ine, popeza munandichitira nkhanza ndi kundithamangitsa?”
28Iwo anayankha, “Tsopano tadziwa kuti Yehova anali ndi iwe; ndiye taganiza kuti inu ndi ife tichite lumbiro. Ife tichite pangano ndi inu 29kuti inu simudzatichitira zoyipa monga ifenso sitinakuchitireni nkhondo. Ife tinakuchitirani zabwino zokhazokha, ndipo tinakulolani kuti musamuke kuchoka kwathu mu mtendere. Tsopano Yehova wakudalitsani.”
30Tsono Isake anawakonzera phwando, ndipo anadya ndi kumwa. 31Mmawa wake aliyense analumbira pangano kwa mnzake. Tsono Isake anawalola kuti anyamuke ndipo anamusiya mu mtendere.
32Tsiku limenelo, antchito a Isake anabwera namuwuza za chitsime chimene anakumba. Iwo anati, “Tawapeza madzi!” 33Iye chitsimecho anachitcha Pangano. Nʼchifukwa chake mzindawu umatchedwa Beeriseba mpaka lero.
34Pamene Esau anali ndi zaka 40, anakwatira Yuditi mwana wamkazi wa Beeri Mhiti. Anakwatiranso Basemati mwana wa mkazi wa Eloni Mhiti. 35Akazi awiriwa anasandutsa Isake ndi Rebeka kukhala ndi moyo wa madandawulo nthawi zonse.
Isaac and Abimelek
1Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. 2The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring26:4 Or seed all nations on earth will be blessed,26:4 Or and all nations on earth will use the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20) 5because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.” 6So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
7When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”
8When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 9So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”
Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”
10Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
11So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who harms this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
12Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. 13The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. 14He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. 15So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth.
16Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”
17So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar, where he settled. 18Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.
19Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. 20But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek,26:20 Esek means dispute. because they disputed with him. 21Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.26:21 Sitnah means opposition. 22He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth,26:22 Rehoboth means room. saying, “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”
23From there he went up to Beersheba. 24That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”
25Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.
26Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. 27Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?”
28They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you 29that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.”
30Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.
32That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!” 33He called it Shibah,26:33 Shibah can mean oath or seven. and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.26:33 Beersheba can mean well of the oath and well of seven.
Jacob Takes Esau’s Blessing
34When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
