¹³ A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew.^(A) Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre^(B) the Amorite, a brother^[a] of Eshkol^(C) and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram.

The Treaty at Beersheba

²² At that time Abimelek^(A) and Phicol the commander of his forces^(B) said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.^{(C) 23} Now swear^(D) to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants.^(E) Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.”^(F)

²⁴ Abraham said, “I swear it.”

²⁵ Then Abraham complained to Abimelek about a well of water that Abimelek’s servants had seized.^{(G) 26} But Abimelek said, “I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.”

²⁷ So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a treaty.^{(H) 28} Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, ²⁹ and Abimelek asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?”

³⁰ He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness^(I) that I dug this well.^(J)”

³¹ So that place was called Beersheba,^[a](K) because the two men swore an oath^(L) there.

³² After the treaty^(M) had been made at Beersheba,^(N) Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces^(O) returned to the land of the Philistines.^(P)

²⁸ They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you;^(A) so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty^(B) with you ²⁹ that you will do us no harm,^(C) 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.”^(D)

³⁰ Isaac then made a feast^(E) for them, and they ate and drank. ³¹ Early the next morning the men swore an oath^(F) to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.

³² That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well^(G) they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!” ³³ He called it Shibah,^[a] and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.^[b](H)