Isaac and the Philistines

1 And after the death of Abraham, the Lord blessed Isaac his son, and he set out from Hebron and went and lived at the Well of the Vision in the first year of the third week [2073] of this jubilee, seven years. 2 And in the first year of the fourth week [2080] a famine began in the land, besides the first famine, which had been in the days of Abraham.

Jacob Gains the Birthright

3 And Jacob cooked lentil stew, and Esau came from the field hungry. And he said to Jacob his brother: 'Give me of this red stew.' And Jacob said to him: 'Sell to me your [status as firstborn, this] birthright and I will give you bread, and also some of this lentil stew.' 4 And Esau said in his heart: 'I shall die; what good to me is this birthright?' And he said to Jacob: 'I give it to you.' 5 And Jacob said: 'Swear to me, today,' and he swore to him. 6 And Jacob gave his brother Esau bread and stew, and he ate until he was satisfied, and Esau despised his birthright; for this reason Esau's name was called Edom, on account of the red stew which Jacob gave him for his birthright. 7 And Jacob became the elder, and Esau lost his privileged position.

Isaac in Gerar

8 And the famine was over the land, and Isaac departed to go down into Egypt in the second year of this week, and went to the king of the Philistines to Gerar, to Abimelech. 9 And the Lord appeared to him and said to him: 'Do not go down into Egypt; live in the land that I shall tell you of, and live as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. 10 For to you and to your descendants I will give all this land, and I will establish My oath which I swore to Abraham your father, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give to your descendants all this land. 11 And in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because your father obeyed My voice, and kept My instructions and My commandments, and My instructions, and My ordinances, and My covenant;⁠a and now obey My voice and live in this land.' 12 And he lived in Gerar three weeks of years. 13 And Abimelech gave orders concerning him, and concerning all that was his [2080-2101], saying: 'Any man that shall touch him or anything that is his shall surely die.'⁠b 14 And Isaac grew strong among the Philistines, and he got many possessions, oxen and sheep and camels and donkeys and a great household. 15 And he sowed in the land of the Philistines and brought in a hundred-fold, and Isaac became extremely great, and the Philistines envied him. 16 Now all the wells which the servants of Abraham had dug during the life of Abraham, the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham, and filled them with earth. 17 And Abimelech said to Isaac: 'Go from us, for you are much mightier than we', and Isaac departed from there in the first year of the seventh week, and stayed in the valleys of Gerar. 18 And they dug again the wells of water which the servants of Abraham, his father, had dug, and which the Philistines had closed after the death of Abraham his father, and he called their names as Abraham his father had named them. 19 And the servants of Isaac dug a well in the valley, and found flowing water, and the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with the shepherds of Isaac, saying: 'The water is ours'; and Isaac named the well 'Perversity', because they had been perverse with us. 20 And they dug a second well, and they quarreled for that also, and he named it 'Enmity'. And he set out from there and they dug another well, and for that they did not quarrel, and he named it 'Room', and Isaac said: 'Now the Lord has made room for us, and we have increased in the land.' 21 And he went up from there to the Well of the Oath in the first year of the first week in the forty-fourth jubilee [2108]. 22 And the Lord appeared to him that night, on the new moon of the first month, and said to him: 'I am the God of Abraham your father; do not fear, for I am with you, and shall bless you and shall surely multiply your descendants as the sand of the earth, for the sake of Abraham my servant.' 23 And he built an altar there, which Abraham his father had first built, and he called upon the name of the Lord, and he offered sacrifice to the God of Abraham his father.

Isaac’s Oath and Curse

24 And they dug a well and they found flowing water. 25 And the servants of Isaac dug another well and did not find water, and they went and told Isaac that they had not found water, and Isaac said: 'I have sworn today to the Philistines and this thing has been announced to us.' 26 And he named that place the Well of the Oath; for there he had sworn to Abimelech and Ahuzzath his friend and Phicol the commander of his army. 27 And Isaac knew that day that under pressure he had sworn to them to make peace with them. 28 And Isaac on that day cursed the Philistines and said: 'Cursed be the Philistines to the day of anger and indignation from the midst of all nations; may God make them an object of ridicule and a curse and an object of anger and indignation in the hands of the sinners the nations and in the hands of the Kittim. 29 And whoever escapes the sword of the enemy and the Kittim, may the righteous nation root out in judgment from under heaven; for they shall be the enemies and adversaries of my children throughout their generations upon the earth. 30 And no remnant shall be left to them, Nor one that shall be saved on the day of the anger of judgment; For all the descendants of the Philistines are (reserved) for destruction and rooting out and expulsion from the earth, And there shall no longer be left for these Caphtorim a name or any descendants on the earth. 31 For though he climbs to heaven, From there he shall be brought down, And though he make himself strong on earth, From there he shall be dragged out, And though he hides himself among the nations, Even from there he shall be rooted out; And though he descends into Sheol, There also his condemnation shall be great, And there also he shall have no peace. 32 And if he goes into captivity, By the hands of those that seek his life they shall kill him on the way, And neither name nor descendants shall be left to him on all the earth; For he shall depart into an eternal curse.' 33 And thus it is written and engraved concerning him on the heavenly tablets, to do to him on the day of judgment, so that he may be rooted out of the earth.