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Genesis 26:20

in Genesis 26

But 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.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the herdsmen of Gerar strove with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.

KJV

And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.

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This verse in Genesis 26

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

found a well of fresh water there

on Genesis 26:19-22

Three wells carry three names that track the quarrel: Esek, where they contended with him, Sitnah, and Rehoboth. Isaac moves on each time and digs again, and the room he finally gets is given to him. Jerome notes that the word behind Sitnah is the word behind the name Satan.

This site's exposition

The water is ours

The quarrel starts only after the servants strike a well of fresh water, which Clarke reads from the Hebrew as a well of living waters. Clarke notes that in such country a good well was a great acquisition. Isaac's men dug it, and Gerar's herdsmen claim it.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Gill

1697–1771

Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

proposed

And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen,....
And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

In this sense, Jeremiah was a man of contention ( Jer. xv. 10 ), and Christ himself, though he is the prince of peace. [3.] What a mercy it is to have plenty of water, to have it without striving for it. The more common this mercy is the more reason we have to be thankful for it.

The words behind it

16 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיָּרִ֜יבוּand they disputed

    vaiyarivuH7378 →67 times

  • רֹעֵ֣י[the] herdsmen of

    roeiH7462 →177 times

  • גְרָ֗רGerar

    gerarH1642 →10 times

  • עִם־with

    ʾim-H5973 →1050 times

  • רֹעֵ֥י[the] herdsmen of

    roeiH7462 →177 times

  • יִצְחָ֛קIsaac

    yitzchakH3327 →108 times

  • לֵאמֹ֖ר<to> saying

    lemorH559 →5305 times

  • לָ֣נוּ[belongs] to <the> us

    lanu

  • הַמָּ֑יִםthe water

    hamayimH4325 →581 times

  • וַיִּקְרָ֤אand he called

    vaiyikra'H7121 →733 times

  • שֵֽׁם־[the] name of

    shem-H8034 →864 times

  • הַבְּאֵר֙the well

    habeerH875 →38 times

  • עֵ֔שֶׂקEsek

    ʾesekH6230 →

  • כִּ֥יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • הִֽתְעַשְּׂק֖וּthey quarreled

    hitasekuH6229 →

  • עִמּֽוֹ׃with him

    imoH5973 →1050 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Genesis 21:25

    But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized,

    it leads to

    • Genesis 26:15–22

      So the Philistines took dirt and stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.

    • Genesis 13:7

      And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land.

    • Genesis 29:8

      But they replied, “We cannot, until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”

    • Proverbs 27:5

      Better an open rebuke than love that is concealed.

    • Proverbs 25:9

      Argue your case with your neighbor without betraying another’s confidence,

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

The Tower of Babel, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563. Public domain.
The Tower of Babel, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563. Public domain.
Genesis: the study guide →Read Genesis 26 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Genesis 26 →