The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
Isaac’s Prosperity
Genesis 26:12–25 — Isaac’s Prosperity. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
12Now Isaac sowed seed in the land, and that very year he reaped a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yiṣ·ḥāq way·yiz·ra‘ ha·hi·w bā·’ā·reṣ ha·hi·w baš·šā·nāh way·yim·ṣā mê·’āh šə·‘ā·rîm Yah·weh way·ḇā·ră·ḵê·hū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-Isaac sowed in that the-land, and-in-that the-year he-found a-hundred measures; and-Yahweh blessed-him.
Where the English smooths the original
Our text begins with a sweet little picture of peaceful industry, blessed by God, and therefore prospering. Travellers tell us that the land where Isaac dwelt is still marvellously fertile, even to rude farming. But to be merely a successful farmer and sheep-owner might have seemed poor work to the heir of such glowing promises
The Heb. is, a hundred measures, but the word is unknown elsewhere, and the LXX. and Syriac read, a hundred of barley, measures being understood, as in Ruth 3:15 . Herodotus (Book i. 193) mentions two—and even three—hundredfold as possible in Babylonia; but our Lord seems to give one hundredfold as the extreme measure of productiveness in Palestine ( Matthew 13:8 ). Such a return, like Isaac’s, would be rare and extraordinary.
it was the same year when there was a famine in the land; while others scarce reaped at all, he reaped thus plentifully, through the divine blessing.
As Isaac had experienced the promised protection ("I will be with thee," Genesis 26:3 ) in the safety of his wife, so did he received while in Gerar the promised blessing. He sowed and received in that year "a hundred measures," i.e., a hundred-fold return.
13and he became richer and richer, until he was exceedingly wealthy.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·’îš way·yiḡ·dal way·yê·leḵ hā·lō·wḵ ‘aḏ kî- ḡā·ḏal mə·’ōḏ wə·ḡā·ḏêl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-man grew-great, and-he-went going and-growing until that he-was-great exceedingly.
Where the English smooths the original
went forward , - literally, went going , the verb followed by the infinitive expressing constant growth or progressive increase (cf. Genesis 8:3 ; Genesis 12:9 ; Judges 4:24 ) - and grew until he became very great
Being thus blessed of Jehovah, Isaac became increasingly (הלוך, vid., Genesis 8:3 ) greater (i.e., stronger), until he was very powerful and his wealth very great; so that the Philistines envied him
until he became to be exceeding great indeed, even the greatest man in all the country, yea, greater than King Abimelech himself, as it seems, from Genesis 26:16 .
the more men have of it, the more they are envied, and exposed to censure and injuryHenry's concise note on vv.12–17, read against Isaac's rising greatness and the envy it drew.
14He owned so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·hî- lōw miq·nêh- ṣōn ū·miq·nêh ḇā·qār rab·bāh wa·‘ă·ḇud·dāh pə·liš·tîm way·qan·’ū ’ō·ṯōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-there-was to-him acquisition of-flock and-acquisition of-herd and-service abundant; and-they-envied him the-Philistines.
Where the English smooths the original
Literally it means making employment, and answers to our word business. But if in a man’s life there is much activity and plenty to do, there must be people to do it, and profits made whereby to maintain them. And thus the translation, “great store of servants,” gives the sense; but we see besides that Isaac kept them all actively employed,
The patriarch's possessions ( mikneh , from kanah, to acquire) excited jealous feeling (from root kana , to burn) in the breasts of his neighbors (cf. Ecclesiastes 4:4 ).
The malicious always envy the graces of God in others.Geneva's marginal gloss (g) attached to “envied him.”
Great store of servants; or rather, of husbandry, as this word is elsewhere used; of corn-fields, vineyards, &c.; for he is describing his riches, which then consisted in the two things here expressed, cattle and lands
15So the Philistines took dirt and stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
pə·liš·tîm way·mal·’ūm ‘ā·p̄ār sit·tə·mūm wə·ḵāl hab·bə·’ê·rōṯ ’ă·šer ’ā·ḇîw ‘aḇ·ḏê ḥā·p̄ə·rū bî·mê ’ā·ḇîw ’aḇ·rā·hām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-all the-wells which dug the-servants-of his-father in-the-days-of Abraham his-father, the-Philistines stopped-them and-they-filled-them dust.
Where the English smooths the original
In the East the digger of a well is regarded as a public benefactor; but the Philistines stopped those that Abraham had digged, probably because they regarded his possession of them, though confirmed by the covenant between him and Abimelech ( Genesis 21:32 ), as an intrusion upon their rights as the people of the country
The same base stratagem for annoying those against whom they have taken an umbrage is practiced still by choking the wells with sand or stones, or defiling them with putrid carcases.
This act, commonly regarded as legitimate in ancient warfare, was practically to Isaac an act of expulsion, it being impossible for flocks and herds to exist without access to water supplies.
16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Depart from us, for you are much too powerful for us.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ă·ḇî·me·leḵ way·yō·mer ’el- yiṣ·ḥāq lêḵ mê·‘im·mā·nū kî- mə·’ōḏ ‘ā·ṣam·tā- mim·men·nū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said Abimelech to Isaac, Go from-with-us, for you-are-mightier than-us exceedingly.
Where the English smooths the original
Go from us (a royal command rather than a friendly advice); for thou art much mightier than we . The same apprehension of the growing numbers and strength of Isaac's descendants in Egypt took possession of the heart of Pharaoh, and led to their enslavement ( vide Exodus 1:9 ).
Isaac’s attitude is one of concession and compliance towards the people among whom he sojourns. He is the type of the race that grows rich, but excites envy and hatred in the land of its sojourn.
Which breeds envy, and jealousy, and fear among my subjects, and may occasion greater mischiefs; and therefore it is better that we should part friends, than by continuing together be turned into enemies.Poole supplies Abimelech's unspoken reasoning.
17So Isaac left that place and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yiṣ·ḥāq way·yê·leḵ miš·šām way·yi·ḥan bə·na·ḥal- gə·rār way·yê·šeḇ šām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-went Isaac from-there, and-he-encamped in-the-wadi-of Gerar, and-he-dwelt there.
Where the English smooths the original
The word nahal, rendered “valley,” means a narrow defile through which a summer torrent flows. In the bed of these streams water can generally be found by digging, and Isaac hoped that he was far enough from the city for the enmity to cease. But he was mistaken
he departed immediately, as soon as he perceived his abode was disagreeable to the king and his people; which gives us a very agree, able idea of the calm and peaceable disposition of IsaacGill's “agree, able” reproduces a typographic break in the source text.
And Isaac - perhaps not without remonstrance, but without offering resistance, as became a saint ( Matthew 5:5 ; Romans 12:17, 18 ; Hebrews 12:14 ; 1 Peter 3:9 ) - departed thence
18Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. And he gave these wells the same names his father had given them.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yiṣ·ḥāq way·yā·šāḇ way·yaḥ·pōr ’eṯ- bə·’ê·rōṯ ham·ma·yim ’ă·šer ḥā·p̄ə·rū bî·mê ’ā·ḇîw ’aḇ·rā·hām pə·liš·tîm way·sat·tə·mūm ’a·ḥă·rê ’aḇ·rā·hām mō·wṯ way·yiq·rā lā·hen šê·mō·wṯ kaš·šê·mōṯ ’ă·šer- ’ā·ḇîw qā·rā lā·hen
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-returned Isaac and-he-dug the-wells-of the-water which they-dug in-the-days-of Abraham his-father, and-the-Philistines stopped-them after the-death-of Abraham; and-he-called to-them names like-the-names which called-them his-father.
Where the English smooths the original
he called their names after the names by which his father had called them; which he did out of respect to his father, to preserve the memory of his name, as well as to make his title and claim to them the more dear and certain.
The naming of wells by Abraham, and the hereditary right of his family to the property, the change of the names by the Philistines to obliterate the traces of their origin, the restoration of the names by Isaac, and the contests between the respective shepherds to the exclusive possession of the water, are circumstances that occur among the natives in those regions as frequently in the present day as in the time of Isaac.
And Isaac digged those rather than new ones, partly to keep up his father’s memory, and partly because he had most right to them, and others less cause of quarrel with him about them.
And Isaac digged again - literally, returned and digged , i . e . re-dug (cf. 2 Kings 20:5 )
19Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of fresh water there.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yiṣ·ḥāq ‘aḇ·ḏê- way·yaḥ·pə·rū ban·nā·ḥal way·yim·ṣə·’ū- bə·’êr ḥay·yîm ma·yim šām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-dug servants-of Isaac in-the-wadi, and-they-found there a-well-of living water.
Where the English smooths the original
found there a well of springing water; or "living water" (l), which continually flows, as Aben Ezra rightly interprets it: hence this phrase is used of the perpetual and ever living graces of the Spirit of God, John 4:10 .
Heb. living . A well ( be’êr ) might contain either the water that came from a spring, as here; or water that was stored from rainfall. The word rendered “springing” appears as “running” in Leviticus 14:5 and as “living” in Jeremiah 2:13 ; cf. Zechariah 14:8 ; John 4:10 .
found there a well of springing water . Literally, living water (cf. Leviticus 14:5, 6 ; Zechariah 14:8 ; Revelation 21:6 ).
what a mercy it is to have plenty of water; to have it without striving for it!Henry on vv.18–25; the strife over wells frames the mercy of un-contested water.
20But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
rō·‘ê ḡə·rār way·yā·rî·ḇū ‘im- yiṣ·ḥāq rō·‘ê lê·mōr lā·nū ham·mā·yim way·yiq·rā šêm- hab·bə·’êr ‘ê·śeq kî hiṯ·‘aś·śə·qū ‘im·mōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-strove the-herdsmen-of Gerar with herdsmen-of Isaac, saying, To-us the-water! And-he-called the-name-of the-well Esek, because they-contended with-him.
Where the English smooths the original
The water is ours, because digged in our soil; which was no good argument, because he digged it by their consent or permission at his own charge, and for his own use.
did strive with Isaac's herdmen , - as Lot's with those of Abraham ( Genesis 13:7 ) - saying, The water is ours : - literally, to us (belong) the waters - and he called the name of the well Esek ("Strife"); because they strove with him
Esek ] That is, Contention . LXX Ἀδικία ; Lat. Calumnia . In this and the two following verses we have popular tradition as to the origin of the names of wells in the region associated with the sojournings of the patriarch.
those who avoid striving, yet cannot avoid being striven withHenry on the well-strife: the peaceable man is still made the object of others' contention.
21Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yaḥ·pə·rū ’a·ḥe·reṯ bə·’êr way·yā·rî·ḇū ‘ā·le·hā gam- way·yiq·rā šə·māh śiṭ·nāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-they-dug another well, and-they-strove over-her also; and-he-called her-name Sitnah.
Where the English smooths the original
he called the name of it Sitnah; which signifies "hatred", it being out of hatred and malice to him that they gave him so much trouble; from this word Satan has his name, and these men were of a diabolical spirit, envious, spiteful, and malicious.
Sitnah ] That is, Enmity . This name is connected with the same root as the word satan , “adversary”; cf. Numbers 20:22 ; 1 Samuel 29:4 .
And they digged another well (Isaac having yielded up the first), and strove for that also : - "The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water" ( Proverbs 17:14 )
When men are false and unkind, still God is faithful and graciousHenry on the wells of strife (Esek, Sitnah) and the comfort that follows at Beersheba.
22He moved on from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth and said, “At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·ya‘·têq miš·šām way·yaḥ·pōr bə·’êr ’a·ḥe·reṯ wə·lō rā·ḇū ‘ā·le·hā way·yiq·rā šə·māh rə·ḥō·ḇō·wṯ way·yō·mer kî- ‘at·tāh Yah·weh hir·ḥîḇ lā·nū ū·p̄ā·rî·nū ḇā·’ā·reṣ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-removed from-there and-he-dug another well, and-not they-strove over-her; and-he-called her-name Rehoboth, and-he-said, For now has-made-room Yahweh for-us, and-we-shall-be-fruitful in-the-land.
Where the English smooths the original
He digged a well, and for that they strove not — Those that follow peace, sooner or later shall find peace. Those that study to be quiet, seldom fail of being so. This well they called Rehoboth, enlargement, room enough.
Rehoboth ] That is, Broad places , or, Room . LXX Εὐρυχωρία ; Lat. Latitudo .
it received in consequence the name Rehoboth, "breadths," for Isaac said, "Yea now (כּי־עתּה, as in Genesis 29:32 , etc.) Jehovah has provided for us a broad space, that we may be fruitful (multiply) in the land."
he called the name of it Rehoboth; which signifies broad and spacious, places, enlargements: for now hath the Lord made room for us; for himself, his family, his herds, and flocks, and freed them, from those difficulties under which they laboured
23From there Isaac went up to Beersheba,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
miš·šām bə·’êr way·ya·‘al šā·ḇa‘
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-went-up from-there to-Beersheba.
Where the English smooths the original
This was a very serious act on Isaac’s part He leaves the solitudes where he had found a refuge from the enmity of the Philistines, and returns to a place scarcely five leagues distant from their city. Should the old rancour revive, it may now take the form of actual war. And next, he does not go back to the well Lahai-Roi, where he had so long resided, but to Beer-sheba, his father’s favourite home. It was a claim on his part to the rights and inheritance of Abraham, and the claim was admitted.
"Went up." It was an ascent from Wady er-Ruhaibeh to Beer-sheba; which was near the watershed between the Mediterranean and the Salt Sea.
Where he lived before the famine drove him thence.Poole's entire note on the verse — Beersheba as the pre-famine home.
24and that 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 multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ha·hū bal·lay·lāh Yah·weh way·yê·rā ’ê·lāw way·yō·mer ’ā·nō·ḵî ’ĕ·lō·hê ’ā·ḇî·ḵā ’aḇ·rā·hām ’al- tî·rā kî- ’ā·nō·ḵî ’it·tə·ḵā ū·ḇê·raḵ·tî·ḵā wə·hir·bê·ṯî ’eṯ- zar·‘ă·ḵā ba·‘ă·ḇūr ‘aḇ·dî ’aḇ·rā·hām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-appeared to-him Yahweh in-that the-night, and-he-said, I am-the-God-of Abraham your-father; fear-not, for I-am-with-you, and-I-will-bless-you and-I-will-multiply your-seed for-the-sake-of Abraham My-servant.
Where the English smooths the original
"Fear not," as he had said to Abraham after his victory over the four kings Genesis 15:1 . Then follow the reasons for courage: I, with thee, blessing thee, multiplying thy seed; a reassurance of three parts of the promise involving all the rest. Then comes the instructive reason for this assurance - "for the sake of Abraham my servant."
The title “my servant” here given to Abraham is only found in this place in Genesis. LXX reads “thy father.” But it was the obedience of Abraham that won for him this great title: cf. Isaiah 41:8 , “Israel my servant … Abraham my friend.”
Fear not, I am with thee, and will bless thee — Those may remove with comfort that are sure of God’s presence with them wherever they go.
for my servant Abraham's sake - a reason declaring God's gracious covenant, and not personal merit, to be the true source of blessing for Isaac.
25So Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and he pitched his tent there. His servants also dug a well there.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yi·ḇen miz·bê·aḥ šām way·yiq·rā bə·šêm Yah·weh way·yeṭ- ’ā·ho·lōw šām yiṣ·ḥāq ‘aḇ·ḏê- way·yiḵ·rū- bə·’êr šām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-built there an-altar, and-he-called on-the-name-of Yahweh, and-he-pitched-there his-tent; and-dug there servants-of Isaac a-well.
Where the English smooths the original
"An altar" - the first on record erected by Isaac. "Called on the name of the Lord" - engaged in the solemn and public invocation of Yahweh Genesis 4:26 ; Genesis 12:8 . "His tent there." It was hallowed ground to his father Genesis 21:33 , and now to himself.
builded an altar there , - the first instance of altar building ascribed to Isaac; "those erected by his father no doubt still remaining in the other places where he sojourned" (Inglis) and called upon the name of the Lord, - i.e. publicly celebrated his worship in the midst of his household
To signify that he would serve no other God, but the God of his father Abraham.Geneva's marginal gloss (x) on “builded an altar.”
digged a well ] According to Genesis 21:30 a well had already been digged by Abraham. The word in the Hebrew is not the same as that used in Genesis 26:22 ; see Genesis 50:5 .
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The unit opens not with conquest but with a furrow. Isaac sowed (way·yiz·ra‘, H2232) and found — not merely reaped — a hundredfold, the verb mâtsâʼ (H4672) marking the harvest as a thing discovered rather than engineered. Maclaren reads the scene as a sweet little picture of peaceful industry, blessed by God, and therefore prospering,
and warns that to be merely a successful farmer and sheep-owner might have seemed poor work to the heir of such glowing promises.
The hinge of the verse is its last word, way·ḇā·ră·ḵê·hū (H1288, blessed-him): the agronomy is real, but the cause named is God. Benson (verifiable in the v.12 voices) sharpens the wonder — the bumper crop came the same year when there was a famine in the land; while others scarce reaped at all, he reaped thus plentifully.
Then the threefold drumbeat of g-d-l (vv.13a–b) — Isaac went going
and growing, the idiom the Pulpit Commentary parses as constant growth or progressive increase
— until the rare word gâdêl (H1432) names him very great.
The Geneva margin, attached to v.14's envied him,
states the law that governs the next ten verses: The malicious always envy the graces of God in others.
Envy turns to sabotage. The Philistines filled and stopped (way·mal·’ūm…sit·tə·mūm, H5640) Abraham's wells with ‘ā·p̄ār (H6083) — not neutral soil but dust, the matter of death. JFB notes the tactic survives: choking the wells with sand or stones, or defiling them with putrid carcases.
Abimelech's curt imperative lêḵ — the bare “Go!” of v.16 — is, the Pulpit Commentary insists, a royal command rather than a friendly advice.
Here Maclaren's title fits the man: the first apostle of peace at any price.
Isaac neither argues nor arms; Gill marvels at the calm and peaceable disposition of Isaac.
He re-digs (way·yā·šāḇ way·yaḥ·pōr, literally returned and digged,
per the Pulpit Commentary) and re-names his father's wells, an act Gill reads as filial piety to preserve the memory of his name, as well as to make his title and claim to them the more dear and certain.
The three new wells chart a moral arc in their very names: Esek (H6230, Contention), Sitnah (H7856, Enmity — Cambridge ties it to the root of satan, adversary
), and at last Rehoboth (H7344, Broad Places). Benson draws the thread tight: Those that follow peace, sooner or later shall find peace.
Isaac's closing word reaches back to Eden — ū·p̄ā·rî·nū (H6509, we shall be fruitful
), the creation-mandate verb of Genesis 1:22.
Isaac goes up (way·ya·‘al, H5927) to Beersheba — Ellicott calls it a very serious act,
a deliberate claim on his part to the rights and inheritance of Abraham.
That night Yahweh appears (the first theophany to Isaac in his own right) with the great covenant words — emphatic ’ā·nō·ḵî (I
), the fear not
first spoken to Abraham (Gen 15:1, so Barnes), and the title Cambridge flags as occurring only … in this place in Genesis
: Abraham, My servant. The Pulpit Commentary draws the doctrine: the blessing rests God's gracious covenant, and not personal merit.
Isaac answers grace with worship — the first altar Scripture ascribes to him (Barnes). The order is deliberate and theological: altar, then invocation, then tent, and only last the well. Worship precedes dwelling; the well of the body waits on the well of the soul.
Under Sola Scriptura, and offered as a fallible ⚙ reading to be tested: this unit is a sustained meditation on inheritance contested and recovered through meekness. Three times the text rings the naming-verb qârâʼ (H7121) — Isaac names the contested wells (vv.18, 20, 21, 22) and finally calls on the name
of the LORD (v.25); the same word that memorializes strife becomes the word of worship. The wells are the unit's parable: a stopped well is buried inheritance; a re-dug well bearing the old name is inheritance reclaimed without violence; the un-contested well, Rehoboth, is inheritance enlarged by God Himself (hir·ḥîḇ, H7337). Isaac never strikes back; he yields, moves, digs again — and the narrative vindicates him, for the LORD appears precisely to the man who refused to fight. The structural payoff is that the blessing of v.12 and the blessing of v.24 are the same blessing, framed first as harvest and last as covenant word — and both rest, the text twice says, not on Isaac but on the God of Abraham. The meek do, in the end, inherit the land (v.22: we shall be fruitful in the land
).
A stopped well is a buried inheritance; the meek re-dig it, keep the old name, and let God alone make it broad.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
Genesis 26:18 (re-digging the wells) shares the rare verb châphar (H2658, to dig,
in only 21 verses) and the noun bᵉʼêr (H875, well) with the original well-digging covenant of Genesis 21:30 and with the chapter's own coda at 26:32. The dense, low-frequency recurrence makes this the unit's strongest verbal spine — the Verifier returns these exact shared lexemes for each pairing. The link is verbal-lexical (a shared rare verb), not a quotation: no passage cites another; rather, the narrator deliberately reuses the same scarce word to bind father's and son's labor.
Genesis 26:18 · Genesis 21:30 · Genesis 26:32
basis: shared rare lexemes H2658 châphar (21 vv) + H875 bᵉʼêr (33 vv), per Verifier on 26:18↔21:30 and 26:18↔26:32 (which also shares H3327 Yitschâq, H4325 mayim); verbal-lexical, not a citation
Isaac's conflict is his father's conflict relived. Genesis 21:25 records Abraham's reproof of Abimelech over a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized — the very pattern (stopped or seized wells, the house of Abimelech, the patriarch's servants) that Genesis 26:15–22 stages a generation later with the same royal title. The shared lexemes — bᵉʼêr (H875, well), ʼAbrâhâm (H85), ʻebed (H5650, servants) — are common rather than rare, so the Verifier rightly tiers this structural, not verbal: the bond is a repeated narrative pattern and shared cast, not a quotation. It deepens the unit's theme of contested inheritance, for the wells were Abraham's title to the land before they were Isaac's burden to reclaim.
Genesis 26:15 · Genesis 21:25 · Genesis 26:18
basis: Verifier on 26:15↔21:25: shared H875 bᵉʼêr (33 vv), H85 ʼAbrâhâm (159 vv), H5650 ʻebed (714 vv) — common lexemes + shared scene (well-seizure, house of Abimelech), hence structural not verbal
The same rare verb-and-noun pair that spans Isaac's wells reappears in Numbers 21:18, the celebrated Song of the Well, where Israel sings of the well the princes and nobles of the people dug. Genesis 26:18 and Numbers 21:18 share châphar (H2658, in only 21 verses) and bᵉʼêr (H875). The recurrence of this scarce digging-vocabulary turns Israel's later desert song into an echo of the patriarch's patient labor — water sought and found in a dry land. It is a genuine verbal-lexical link (the shared rare verb), not a quotation: Numbers does not cite Genesis, but both reach for the same uncommon word.
Genesis 26:18 · Numbers 21:18
basis: shared rare lexeme H2658 châphar (21 vv) + H875 bᵉʼêr (33 vv), per Verifier on 26:18↔Num 21:18; verbal-lexical, not a citation
The well-name Rehoboth (rə·ḥō·ḇō·wṯ, H7344, Broad Places
) is a rare proper noun occurring in only four verses of the Hebrew Bible. Genesis 26:22 shares it with the Rehoboth of Nimrod's Assyrian cities (Genesis 10:11) and the Edomite Rehoboth-by-the-River (Genesis 36:37). The link is verbal but onomastic, not thematic — the same place-word recurs of different places; the basis is the lexeme itself, not a shared motif.
Genesis 26:22 · Genesis 10:11 · Genesis 36:37
basis: shared rare lexeme H7344 Rᵉchôbôwth (in only 4 vv), per Verifier on 26:22↔10:11; same lexeme present in 36:37 / 1 Chr 1:48
Genesis 26:13's adjective gâdêl (H1432, growing/great,
in only 4 verses) recurs in Ezekiel 16:26, where Israel's great
Egyptian neighbors are named in a chapter of rebuke. The shared lexeme is verbal and rare, but the contexts diverge sharply (blessing vs. judgment) — the connection is lexical, and should not be over-read as thematic kinship.
Genesis 26:13 · Ezekiel 16:26
basis: shared rare lexeme H1432 gâdêl (in only 4 vv), per Verifier on 26:13↔Ezek 16:26; same word also at 2 Chr 17:12, 1 Sam 2:26
The Beersheba oracle (Genesis 26:24) reprises the chapter's own opening promise (Genesis 26:3 — blessing, seed, Abraham) and the Fear not
first spoken to Abraham (Genesis 15:1, sharing yârêʼ and the emphatic ’ānōḵî). Barnes makes the cross-reference explicit. The shared lexemes are common covenant vocabulary, so the link is structural/thematic, not a quotation claim.
Genesis 26:24 · Genesis 26:3 · Genesis 15:1
basis: Verifier: 26:24↔26:3 share H85 ʼAbrâhâm, H2233 zeraʻ, H1288 bârak; 26:24↔15:1 share H3372 yârêʼ, H595 ʼānōḵî, H7235 râbâh — all common, hence structural not verbal
Isaac's hope at Rehoboth — we shall be fruitful
(pârâh, H6509) — uses the same verb as the creation blessing of Genesis 1:22 (be fruitful and multiply
) and the patriarchal promise. The shared lexeme grounds a thematic continuity from Eden's mandate to the patriarch's well, but pârâh is too widely used (28 vv) and the claim too motif-level to call verbal.
Genesis 26:22 · Genesis 1:22
basis: shared lexeme H6509 pârâh (in 28 vv), per Verifier on 26:22↔1:22 — thematic continuity (creation/covenant fruitfulness), not a quotation
Isaac's worship at Beersheba (Genesis 26:25) mirrors his father's pattern at Bethel (Genesis 12:8): build an altar (H4196), pitch a tent (nâṭâh ’ōhel, H5186 + H168), and call on the name of the LORD
(qârâʼ bᵉšêm, H7121 + H8034). The cluster of shared lexemes marks a deliberate patriarchal type-scene; the words are common, so the link is structural.
Genesis 26:25 · Genesis 12:8 · Genesis 4:26
basis: Verifier: 26:25↔12:8 share H5186 nâṭâh, H168 ʼôhel, H4196 mizbêach, H1129 bânâh, H7121 qârâʼ — a shared worship type-scene; Barnes cites Gen 4:26 for 'calling on the name'
The patriarchal commentators (Ellicott, Benson, Poole, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary) uniformly read Genesis 26:12's hundredfold
alongside the hundredfold of the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:8, 23). The connection is genuine and ancient in the commentary tradition, but it is cross-Testament: a Hebrew narrative and a Greek parable cannot share a Strong's number. The Verifier confirms no shared original-language lexeme exists. We therefore flag it: the link is interpretive, argued from the shared image of extraordinary yield, not from verbal identity.
Genesis 26:12 · Matthew 13:8
basis: Verifier: no shared lexeme (Hebrew↔Greek — cannot share Strong's). Link is thematic/interpretive (hundredfold yield), asserted by Ellicott/Benson/Poole et al., not verbal
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
Isaac's servants found … a well of living water
(Genesis 26:19, be’êr mayim ḥayyîm, H875 + H4325 + H2416). Gill (verifiable in the v.19 voices) already draws the figure forward: the phrase is used of the perpetual and ever living graces of the Spirit of God, John 4:10.
Cambridge and the Pulpit Commentary likewise chain Genesis 26:19 to Jeremiah 2:13, Zechariah 14:8, and John 4:10. The figural reading — that the patriarch's springing well prefigures the living water
Christ offers the Samaritan woman at another patriarchal well — is widely held in the tradition; but as a Hebrew↔Greek link it rests on translated image, not shared lexeme (the Verifier returns no common Strong's), so it is offered as typological, not verbal.
Genesis 26:19 · John 4:10 · Jeremiah 2:13
Maclaren names Isaac the first instance of the Christian type of excellence in the Old Testament,
who obeyed the Sermon on the Mount millenniums before it was spoken.
The Pulpit Commentary glosses v.17 with Matthew 5:5; 1 Peter 3:9. The yielding patriarch who will not meet violence with violence, and who at Rehoboth is enlarged by God rather than by force, foreshadows the One who was as a sheep before her shearers
(Maclaren's own phrase) and who taught that the meek inherit the earth. This is a figural/moral typology argued from the commentary tradition; it is widely held, not a verbal or quotation claim, and the Sower-style cross-Testament image (Genesis 26:22 'fruitful in the land' → Matthew 5:5 'inherit the earth') cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers across the languages.
Genesis 26:17 · Genesis 26:22 · Matthew 5:5
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
Several honesty notes specific to this unit. (1) The hundredfold (v.12). The Hebrew is literally a hundred measures
(mê·’āh šə·‘ā·rîm); šə·‘ā·rîm (H8180) is rare and uncertain, and the LXX and Syriac read a hundred of barley,
confusing the consonants. Ellicott, the Cambridge editors, and the Pulpit Commentary all flag the variant — the ⚙ literal above follows the Masoretic measures.
(2) Well-name etymologies (vv.20–22). The names Esek, Sitnah, and Rehoboth are given with their Hebrew sense; these are the narrator's own folk-etymologies (the verbs ‘âsaq, śâṭan-root, râchab chime with the names), and the Cambridge editor frankly calls them popular tradition as to the origin of the names of wells.
We report the sense without claiming a verified geography, though several voices locate them at Wady Ruhaibeh / Wady Shutein. (3) 'My servant' (v.24). Cambridge notes the LXX reads thy father
for the Masoretic My servant
; the ⚙ literal follows the Hebrew, and the title's rarity (only here in Genesis) is genuine. (4) Cross-Testament threads (hundredfold → Matthew 13; living water → John 4) are flagged or marked typological precisely because Hebrew and Greek cannot share a Strong's lexeme; their force is interpretive and traditional, not verbal. (5) The closing well of v.25 is dug with kârâh (H3738), not the chapter's usual châphar (H2658) — a real lexical shift the Cambridge editor observes; our literal preserves it. All parses follow the Berean/Strong's data in input.json and are not contradicted here.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)