So Abraham and Abimelech made an agreement at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, his military commander, went back to the country of the Philistines.
Pharaoh made the people leave Egypt. God did not let the people take the road leading to the land of the Philistines. That road by the Mediterranean Sea is the shortest way, but God said, “If the people go that way they will have to fight. Then they might change their minds and go back to Egypt.”
May the God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their ancestors judge us guilty if we break this agreement.” Jacob’s father, Isaac, called God “Fear.” So Jacob used that name to make the promise.
One of the men who had escaped went to Abram the Hebrew and told him what happened. Abram was camped near the trees of Mamre the Amorite. Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner had made an agreement to help each other, and they had also signed an agreement to help Abram.