The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
Isaac’s Covenant with Abimelech
Genesis 26:26–33 — Isaac’s Covenant with Abimelech. 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.
26Later, Abimelech came to Isaac from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wa·’ă·ḇî·me·leḵ hā·laḵ ’ê·lāw mig·gə·rār wa·’ă·ḥuz·zaṯ mê·rê·‘ê·hū ū·p̄î·ḵōl śar- ṣə·ḇā·’ōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-Abimelech went to-him from-Gerar, and-Ahuzzath his-friend, and-Phicol commander-of his-army.
Where the English smooths the original
When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him, Pr 16:7. Kings' hearts are in his hands, and when he pleases, he can turn them to favour his people.
When, then, Isaac thus retraced his steps, Abimelech, uncertain of Isaac’s purpose, deter mined to offer peace and friendship, and to propose the renewal of the old covenant which had existed between Abraham and the people of Gerar.Ellicott's OCR runs “determined” as “deter mined”; quoted as printed.
Abimelech not only brought his chief captain Phicol (supposed to be the same as in Genesis 21:22 , if Phicol is not also an official name), but his מרע "friend," i.e., his privy councillor, Ahuzzath.
The LXX strangely renders by νυμφαγωγός , “the friend of the bridegroom” (cf. Jdg 14:11 ; Jdg 14:20 ; Jdg 15:2 ; Jdg 15:6 ), i.e. “the intimate friend.” Phicol ] See Genesis 21:22 . Possibly also a Philistine name. Phicol represented the army, Ahuzzath the court.
Here is another proof of the promise (Ge 12:2) being fulfilled, in an overture of peace being made to him by the king of Gerar.JFB reads the king's overture as a visible installment of the Genesis 12:2 promise — the basis the synthesis develops in the redemptive-historical reading.
27“Why have you come to me?” Isaac asked them. “You hated me and sent me away.”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
mad·dū·a‘ bā·ṯem ’ê·lāy yiṣ·ḥāq way·yō·mer ’ă·lê·hem wə·’at·tem śə·nê·ṯem ’ō·ṯî wat·tə·šal·lə·ḥū·nî mê·’it·tə·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said to-them Isaac, “Why have-you-come to-me, and-you hated me and-sent-me-away from-with-you?”
Where the English smooths the original
Isaac’s return had brought matters to a crisis, and the king must now decide whether there was to be peace or war.
it cannot be from affection and friendship to me: seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? the latter he mentions as a proof of the former; they envied his prosperity, and hated him on that account, and therefore expelled him their country, or at least would not suffer him to dwell among them
While animadverting to the personal hostility to which he had been subjected, Isaac says nothing about the wells of which he had been deprived: a second point of difference between this and the preceding narrative of Abraham's covenant with the Philistine king.
His timid and passive temper had submitted to the annoyances of his rude neighbors; but now that they wish to renew the covenant, he evinces deep feeling at their conduct, and astonishment at their assurance, or artifice, in coming near him.
28“We can plainly see that the LORD has been with you,” they replied. “We recommend that there should now be an oath between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
rā·’ōw rā·’î·nū kî- Yah·weh hā·yāh ‘im·māḵ way·yō·mə·rū wan·nō·mer tə·hî nā ’ā·lāh bê·nō·w·ṯê·nū bê·nê·nū ū·ḇê·ne·ḵā wə·niḵ·rə·ṯāh ḇə·rîṯ ‘im·māḵ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-they-said, “Seeing we-have-seen that the-LORD has-been with-you, and-we-said, ‘Let-there-be-now an-oath between us — between us and-you — and-let-us-cut a-covenant with-you,
Where the English smooths the original
The word literally signifies a curse. Each side uttered an imprecation, with the prayer that it might fall upon himself if he broke the terms of the covenant.
It appears from this verse that a strong sense still prevailed, in that part of the world, of God’s superintending providence, and of his ordering the affairs of men so that blessings might come on the righteous.
The phrase "to cut a covenant," here used in a so-called Jehovistic portion of the history, occurs in Genesis 21:27, 32 , which confessedly belongs to the fundamental document.
His prosperity was such as to be a manifest token of the Lord's favor. Hence, they desired the security of a treaty with him by an oath of execration on the transgressor.
29that you will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have done only good to you, sending you on your way in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD.”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’im- ta·ʿă·śēh rā·‘āh ‘im·mā·nū ka·’ă·šer lō nə·ḡa·‘ă·nū·ḵā wə·ḵa·’ă·šer ‘ā·śî·nū raq- ṭō·wḇ ‘im·mə·ḵā wan·nə·šal·lê·ḥă·ḵā bə·šā·lō·wm ‘at·tāh ’at·tāh bə·rūḵ Yah·weh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
that you-will-do no-harm to-us, just-as we-have-not touched you, and-just-as we-have-done with-you only good, and-sent-you-away in-peace; now you (are) blessed-of the-LORD.”
Where the English smooths the original
Thou art now the blessed of the Lord; or, O thou who art now the with blessed of the Lord, whom God hath enriched great and manifold blessings, which we did not take away from thee, as we could easily have done, but thou dost still enjoy themPoole's text reads “the with blessed,” an old printing slip; quoted verbatim.
The Hebrews in swearing begin commonly with If and understand the rest, that is, that God will punish him who breaks the oath: here the wicked show that they are afraid lest that happen to them which they would do to others.
as we have … but good ] This statement, scarcely veracious in view of Genesis 26:15 ; Genesis 26:20-21 , is evidently made in the interests of policy.
"Thou art now blessed of Yahweh." This explains the one-sidedness of the covenant. Isaac needed no guarantee from them, as the Lord was with him.
30So Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·ya·‘aś miš·teh lā·hem way·yō·ḵə·lū way·yiš·tū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-made for-them a-feast, and-they-ate and-they-drank.
Where the English smooths the original
There is no mention of any banquet in the case of Abraham's covenant, which may be noted as another point of difference between the two transactions.
A “feast” was partaken of by the two parties in a covenant. Cf. Genesis 31:54 . Here it is an evening “drinking banquet” cf. Genesis 19:3 .
both having spoken their minds, they agreed to bury all former things oblivion, and live in peace and friendship; though this feast was not on account of the covenant made between them, as is observed by some interpreters, but as an hospitable act, and a token of good will
31And they got up early the next morning and swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yaš·kî·mū ḇab·bō·qer way·yiš·šā·ḇə·‘ū ’îš lə·’ā·ḥîw yiṣ·ḥāq way·šal·lə·ḥêm way·yê·lə·ḵū mê·’it·tōw bə·šā·lō·wm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-they-rose-early in-the-morning, and-they-swore a-man to-his-brother; and-Isaac sent-them-away, and-they-went from-him in-peace.
Where the English smooths the original
They rose up betimes; partly for the despatch of their journey and business, and partly because then their minds were most vigorous, and sober, and fit to perform so sacred an action as an oath was.
And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another - literally, a man to his brother . On the derivation of the verb to swear from the word for seven, see Genesis 21:23
for which the morning was the fitter time; when the mind is quite free and composed, and attentive to what is done, as so solemn a transaction should be performed with the utmost attention and seriousness
betimes ] More often rendered “early”; cf. 2 Chronicles 36:15 . The etymology of the Old English word is “by time,” i.e. “in good time.”
32On that same day, Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We have found water!” they told him.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·hî ha·hū bay·yō·wm yiṣ·ḥāq ‘aḇ·ḏê way·yā·ḇō·’ū way·yag·gi·ḏū lōw ‘al- ’ō·ḏō·wṯ hab·bə·’êr ’ă·šer ḥā·p̄ā·rū mā·ṣā·nū mā·yim way·yō·mə·rū lōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-it-came-to-pass on-the-day the-that, that came the-servants-of Isaac and-told him concerning the-well that they-had-dug, and-said to-him, “We-have-found water!”
Where the English smooths the original
The LXX., mistaking לו , to him, for לֹא , not, read, "We have not found water;" the incorrectness of which is sufficiently declared by what follows.
As there are two wells at Beer-sheba, it is uncertain whether this was Abraham’s well, re-opened by Isaac (see Genesis 26:25 ), or a new one.
not only had dug a well, but they had found plenty of water, and that which was good; or otherwise it would not have been worth while to have troubled Isaac with the account of it.
33So he called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the city is Beersheba.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yiq·rā ’ō·ṯāh šiḇ·‘āh ‘al- kên ‘aḏ haz·zeh hay·yō·wm šêm- hā·‘îr bə·’êr še·ḇa‘
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-called it Shibah; therefore the-name-of the-city (is) Beersheba unto the-day the-this.
Where the English smooths the original
This name had been given before, either to this or a neighbouring place, by Abraham, Genesis 21:31 ; but was now buried in oblivion, as his wells were; and the wells being revived, he revives and renews the name, which proved now a lasting name, unto this day
This word, denoting “oath-taking” or “swearing,” is here given as the explanation of the name “Beer-sheba.” For another tradition as to the origin of the name, see Genesis 21:31 . The narrative there is from E; the narrative here from J.
this remarkable coincidence of the water being again found, just when the covenant had been confirmed by the customary sevenfold sacrifice, so impressed the minds of the people that the title of Beer-sheba never again passed into oblivion.
This derivation of the name does not shut the other ( Genesis 21:31 ) out, but seems to confirm it. As the treaty made on oath between Abimelech and Isaac was only a renewal of his covenant concluded before with Abraham, so the name Beersheba was also renewed by the well Shebah.
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 episode opens with a reversal so quiet it is easy to miss: the king does the traveling. waʾăḇîmeleḵ hālaḵ ʾêlāw mig-gərār — “and Abimelech went to him from Gerar.” The man who had said “Go from us, for you are much mightier than we” (v. 16) now walks the suppliant's road to Isaac's tent, flanked by his whole court: Phicol his general and Ahuzzath, whom Keil & Delitzsch identify as “his privy councillor.” Matthew Henry hears the governing law of the scene in Proverbs 16:7: “When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Ellicott reconstructs the politics — “Abimelech, uncertain of Isaac's purpose, deter mined to offer peace and friendship, and to propose the renewal of the old covenant which had existed between Abraham and the people of Gerar.” Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read Isaac's reply not as warmth but as wounded astonishment: his “timid and passive temper had submitted to the annoyances of his rude neighbors; but now that they wish to renew the covenant, he evinces deep feeling at their conduct.” Isaac names the hostility plainly — śənêʾtem ʾōṯî, “you hated me” — yet, as the Pulpit Commentary notes, “says nothing about the wells of which he had been deprived,” a restraint that distinguishes this scene from his father's.
The Philistines explain themselves with an emphatic doubled verb — rāʾô rāʾînū, “seeing we have seen,” the Pulpit Commentary's “we assuredly perceived” — “that YHWH has been with you.” The name is startling on a pagan king's lips; in Abraham's parallel treaty (Gen 21:22) the same king said only ʾelōhîm. Ellicott calls the substitution “very remarkable” and weighs whether Moses supplied the covenant name where Abimelech spoke another (with Rosenmüller), or whether the long residence of the patriarchs had taught the Philistines to name Israel's God. Joseph Benson draws the broader point: this verse shows “a strong sense still prevailed, in that part of the world, of God's superintending providence.” What they request is an ʾālāh — not a bare oath but, Ellicott insists, “a curse,” a mutual self-imprecation; Keil & Delitzsch call it “an act of self-imprecation… to form the basis of the covenant.” They ask to cut a covenant (niḵrəṯāh ḇərîṯ), the old rite of the severed animals. Their self-description, though — “we have done unto thee nothing but good” — Cambridge bluntly judges “scarcely veracious in view of” the stopped and seized wells, “evidently made in the interests of policy.” Yet they close with a true verdict they cannot have invented: ʾattāh ʿattāh bərūḵ YHWH, “you are now blessed of the LORD.” Barnes: this “explains the one-sidedness of the covenant. Isaac needed no guarantee from them, as the Lord was with him.”
Isaac answers grievance with hospitality: wayyaʿaś lāhem mišteh, “he made them a feast” — a mišteh, Cambridge notes, an evening “drinking banquet,” the shared table that ratifies a covenant (cf. Gen 31:54). The Pulpit Commentary marks that Abraham's treaty had “no mention of any banquet,” one of several quiet differences between the two accounts. Gill is careful: the meal was “an hospitable act, and a token of good will,” the oath itself sworn the next morning, when, says Poole, “their minds were most vigorous, and sober, and fit to perform so sacred an action as an oath was.” Then comes the swearing — wayyiššāḇəʿū ʾîš lə-ʾāḥîw, literally “they swore, a man to his brother.” The Pulpit Commentary draws the buried etymology to the surface: the verb “to swear” (šāḇaʿ) derives “from the word for seven.” And Isaac sends them away — the very Piel šālaḥ that in v. 27 had described his own expulsion from Gerar — only now the sending ends bəšālōwm, “in peace.” The word of injury has become the word of blessing; the once-hostile king departs as a brother.
wayhî bayyôm hahûʾ — “and it came to pass on that same day.” The narrator binds two events with deliberate timing: the hour the oath is sealed, the diggers strike water. māṣāʾnū māyim, “we have found water!” (The Septuagint, the Pulpit Commentary notes, misread לוֹ as לֹא and printed “we have not found water” — a one-letter slip the context refutes.) Isaac names the well Shibah, a word that puns at once on oath, on seven, and (so Jerome and Gill) on fulness. “Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba — the well of the oath — unto this day.” Isaac is renewing, not inventing: Abraham named the place a century before (Gen 21:31). Poole explains how a name can be both old and new — Abraham's title had been “buried in oblivion, as his wells were; and the wells being revived, he revives and renews the name.” Keil & Delitzsch refuse to let the doublet become a contradiction: this derivation “does not shut the other out, but seems to confirm it.” Ellicott reads the lasting effect: “this remarkable coincidence of the water being again found, just when the covenant had been confirmed… so impressed the minds of the people that the title of Beer-sheba never again passed into oblivion.”
Tested against the rule that Scripture alone is the final judge, three things stand out from this small covenant scene — offered as a reading to be weighed, not a verdict to be trusted.
The blessing speaks for itself, even to outsiders. Isaac argues nothing; the king reads the verdict off the visible life and pronounces it: “you are now blessed of the LORD.” The promise of Genesis 12:2–3 — that the nations would be drawn toward the seed of Abraham — here takes a step in a Philistine king walking out to a shepherd's tent to ask for terms.
Peace can be made without pretending the wrong did not happen. Isaac names the hatred (v. 27) before he sets the table (v. 30). He does not litigate the seized wells, but neither does he call hatred friendship. Matthew Henry's balance holds: “It is not wrong to stand upon our guard… But Isaac did not insist on the unkindnesses they had done him; he freely entered into friendship with them.”
God redeems the very words that were used against His servant. The verb that expelled Isaac (šālaḥ, v. 27) becomes the verb that blesses his guests (vv. 29, 31); the same root šāḇaʿ that seals the oath gives the well its name and the city its identity “unto this day.” The God who keeps covenant turns an enemy's treaty into a peace, and a treaty's oath into a memorial of water in a dry land.
This is a deliberate echo of Abraham's covenant a century earlier (Gen 21:22–34), down to the names Abimelech and Phicol — and the echo is the message. The God who was “with” the father is now visibly “with” the son, so plainly that a pagan court can read it and comes seeking peace. Isaac, the quiet patriarch, does not seize, argue, or avenge; he names the old wrong honestly, then answers it with a feast, an oath, and a renewed name. The found water on the day of the oath is the parable in miniature: where the covenant God is sworn to be present, life springs up in the dry country, and the place keeps the memory of His faithfulness “unto this day.” Held loosely, as a fallible reading: peace with the nations comes not by the patriarch's strength but by the blessing that even his enemies cannot deny.
The king who drove him out now walks to his tent for terms — the blessing argues a case the patriarch never had to make.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The same cast — King Abimelech, the commander Phicol — and the same site (Beersheba) appear in Abraham's covenant a century before and now in Isaac's. Keil & Delitzsch read it as a true renewal, “substantially only a repetition of renewal of the alliance entered into with Abraham,” while JFB notes the “lapse of ninety years” means these must be different men or official throne-names. The rare name Phicol (H6369) anchors the doublet; it occurs in only these three verses in the whole Hebrew Bible. Because the link is a recurring narrative cast and a near-identical scene rather than one passage citing another, it is held below the verbal tier.
Genesis 26:26 · Genesis 21:22 · Genesis 21:32
basis: shared RARE lexeme H6369 Pîykôl (only 3 vv in the whole Hebrew Bible) recurring intact across the two treaties, with the supporting cast H40 ʼĂbîymelek (62 vv) and H8269 sar / H6635 tsâbâʼ — the verbal tier rests on the rare proper name reappearing verbatim, not on a citation claim
In Abraham's treaty the Philistine king said only ʾelōhîm ʿimməḵā, “God is with you” (Gen 21:22); here, remarkably, the same court confesses YHWH by name — “we have plainly seen that the LORD has been with you.” Ellicott calls the use of the covenant name “very remarkable” on a pagan tongue. The two scenes are bound by the preposition ʿim (“with”) and the parallel confession; the link is the recurring motif of an outsider reading the blessing, not a quotation.
Genesis 26:28 · Genesis 21:22 · Genesis 26:24
basis: shared lexeme H5973 ʻim (919 vv, a common preposition — so a structural/motivic tie, not a rare verbal tag) binding the two ‘God/the LORD is with you’ confessions; nothing is cited
Abimelech asks not merely for a promise but for an ʾālāh — a self-cursing oath — and to cut (kāraṯ) a covenant (bərîṯ), the rite of the severed animals first described at Gen 15. Keil & Delitzsch trace how ʾālāh, “the oath, as an act of self-imprecation,” came to mean a covenant sealed by oath (Deut 29:11–13). The shared verbal tags bərîṯ and kāraṯ bind these covenant-cutting scenes, though both words are common and nothing is quoted.
Genesis 26:28 · Genesis 15:18 · Deuteronomy 29:12
basis: shared lexemes H1285 bᵉrîyth (264 vv) and H3772 kârath (280 vv) — the standard ‘cut a covenant’ idiom recurring across covenant scenes; common words, so a structural motif rather than a rare verbal quotation
The swearing of v. 31 (wayyiššāḇəʿū, root šāḇaʿ) and the naming of v. 33 (Shibah / Beersheba, H884) are one root in Hebrew: to swear is “to seven oneself.” The same play grounds Abraham's earlier covenant at the same well (Gen 21:31). Cambridge notes shibʿah is “a rare variety” of the word for oath. The link is verbal at the level of a shared root motif and a shared place-name, but the scenes are renewals rather than citations.
Genesis 26:33 · Genesis 21:31 · Genesis 26:31
basis: shared lexeme H884 Bᵉʼêr Shebaʻ (33 vv) tying the two namings of Beersheba, plus the swear/seven root play (H7650 shâbaʻ, 175 vv); a recurring place-naming motif, not a quotation
Matthew Henry reads the whole episode through Proverbs 16:7, “When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him,” and JFB cites the same proverb for the king's overture. This is a thematic application, not a verbal link: the Hebrew of Genesis 26 and Proverbs 16:7 share no rare lexeme, so the connection must be argued as a wisdom commentary on the narrative, not asserted from the words.
Genesis 26:29 · Proverbs 16:7
basis: the Verifier finds NO shared original-language lexeme between Genesis 26:29 and Proverbs 16:7 — the bond is a commentator's thematic application (Henry, JFB), conceptual only, and must be argued rather than claimed verbally
Two unusual words in this scene — mêrêaʿ (“friend / confidant,” H4828, only 7 verses) and śānêʾ (“to hate,” H8130) — recur together in the Samson narrative, where Samson's friend takes his wife and his hosts are said to hate him (Judg 14–15). The Verifier surfaces the overlap, but the contexts are sharply contrastive: here a king's faithful counsellor and a hatred being reconciled; there a treacherous companion and a hatred breaking out. A real lexical tag, but contrastive and uncited, so tiered structural.
Genesis 26:26 · Judges 15:2 · Judges 14:20
basis: shared rare lexeme H4828 mêrêaʻ ‘friend/confidant’ (only 7 vv) plus H8130 sânêʼ ‘hate’ — a genuine verbal tag, but the Samson contexts are contrastive and nothing is quoted, so held below the verbal tier
Isaac's mišteh (“feast,” a drinking-banquet) where the parties “ate and drank” is the recurring covenant meal of Genesis. Cambridge points to Jacob and Laban's treaty (Gen 31:54), where eating together likewise seals the oath. The link is the shared covenant-ratification motif of the common table; the eating-and-drinking formula and the meal-as-seal recur, but as a structural pattern, not a quotation.
Genesis 26:30 · Genesis 31:54 · Genesis 19:3
basis: shared covenant-meal pattern (eat/drink as ratification) via common verbs H398 ʼâkal and H8354 shâthâh; a recurring narrative custom, not a rare verbal tag, so tiered structural
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
The pagan court's confession, “the LORD has been with you” (YHWH hāyāh ʿimmāḵ), is the seed of the great name that crowns the Gospel: Immanuel, “God with us” (Isa 7:14; Matt 1:23). What Abimelech could only read on the outside of Isaac's life — that God was demonstrably with the blessed seed — is fulfilled when the Seed Himself is named “God with us.” The cross-Testament tie (Hebrew ʿim → Greek μεθ' ἡμῶν) is thematic, not verbal: the patriarchal pattern of God's presence draws to its head in the incarnate Son. Widely held in the church's reading of the “with you” promises.
Genesis 26:28 · Isaiah 7:14 · Matthew 1:23
At Beersheba the covenant sworn in self-imprecation is sealed the same day water springs up in the dry land — the oath and the well bound in one name, Shibah. The patriarchal pattern of a sworn covenant joined to found water reaches toward the One who sat at a well in this same land and offered “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14), and who is Himself the surety of “a better covenant, established on better promises” (Heb 7:22; 8:6). This is a figural reading, offered as such, not claimed from shared vocabulary.
Genesis 26:32 · John 4:14 · Hebrews 7:22
A Gentile king walks out to the seed of Abraham, confesses the LORD's blessing on him, and is received in peace. JFB already reads the scene this way at the narrative level — “here is another proof of the promise (Ge 12:2) being fulfilled, in an overture of peace being made to him by the king of Gerar” — a small first installment of the wider promise that “all nations” would be blessed in Abraham's seed (Gen 12:3), which Paul reads as fulfilled in Christ (Gal 3:16) and as the Gentiles' adoption into covenant peace (Eph 2:13–14, “He Himself is our peace”). Isaac making peace with the Philistine at Beersheba prefigures the greater Isaac making peace for those “far off.” Widely held in the seed-and-nations reading of the patriarchal covenants.
Genesis 26:29 · Genesis 12:3 · Ephesians 2:13
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:
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). The named voices are quoted verbatim from public-domain works (Ellicott, Henry, Barnes, JFB, Poole, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge Bible, Pulpit Commentary, Benson, Keil & Delitzsch), attributed in place with source URLs; each excerpt is a contiguous substring of the sourced commentary, trimmed only at its ends. Two voices preserve printing or OCR slips noted in their editorial_note (Ellicott's “deter mined,” Poole's “the with blessed”) — quoted as printed rather than silently corrected. Transliterations, literal renderings, the “where the English smooths the Hebrew” notes, and all ⚙ synthesis are this tool's own work — careful but fallible; check them against a lexicon (BDB/HALOT).
This unit is a deliberate near-twin of Genesis 21:22–34 (Abraham's treaty at the same site, with a king and a Phicol of the same names). The cross-references to that chapter are treated as a narrative doublet/renewal, not a quotation: where the bond rests on the rare proper name Phicol recurring intact (H6369, only 3 verses) the verbal tier is used; where it rests on common covenant vocabulary (bərîṯ, kāraṯ, ʿim, eat/drink) it is held to the structural tier. The source-critical labels some voices apply (Cambridge: “The narrative there is from E; the narrative here from J”) are reported as the commentators' views, not endorsed; Keil & Delitzsch's counter-reading — that the renewal “does not shut the other out, but seems to confirm it” — is given alongside. The Proverbs 16:7 link (Henry, JFB) is flagged because the Verifier finds no shared original-language lexeme: it is a commentator's thematic application, not a verbal connection. The Septuagint variant at v. 32 (לֹא for לוֹ, “we have not found water”) is noted as a one-letter textual matter, following the Pulpit Commentary. The Christ readings range from widely-held (Immanuel; peace with the nations through the seed) to one marked novel (the oath-well as a figure of living water) — offered for testing, not asserted.
✦ = 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)