Isaac and Rebekah

¹ Now Abraham was old, ⌞advanced in age⌟,¹ and Yahweh had blessed Abraham in everything.

1. Literally “going in the days”

² And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh

³ that I may make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose midst I am dwelling,

⁴ but that you will go to my land and to my family, and take a wife for my son, for Isaac.”

⁵ And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing ⌞to follow⌟¹ me to this land—must I then return your son to the land from whence you came?”

1. Literally “to go after”

⁶ Abraham said to him, “⌞You must take care⌟¹ that you do not return my son there.

1. Literally “let it be careful to you”

⁷ Yahweh, the God of heaven who took me from the house of my father and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘to your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.

⁸ And if the woman is not willing ⌞to follow⌟¹ you, then you shall be released from this oath of mine—only you must not return my son there.”

1. Literally “to go after”

⁹ Then the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and he swore to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰ And the servant took ten camels from his master’s camels, and he went with all kinds of his master’s good things in his hand. And he arose and went to Aram-Naharaim, to the city of Nahor.

¹¹ And he made the camels kneel outside the city at the well of water, at the time of evening, toward the time the women went out to draw water.

¹² And he said, “O Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show loyal love to my master Abraham.

¹³ Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are going out to draw water.

¹⁴ And let it be that the girl to whom I shall say, ‘Please, offer your jar that I may drink’ and who says, ‘Drink—and I will also water your camels,’ she is the one you have chosen for your servant, for Isaac. By her I will know that you have shown loyal love to my master.”

¹⁵ And it happened that before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah—who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, the brother of Abraham—came out, and her jar was on her shoulder.

¹⁶ Now the girl was very pleasing in appearance. She was a virgin; no man had known her. And she went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up.

¹⁷ And the servant ran to meet her. And he said, “Please, let me drink a little of the water from your jar.”

¹⁸ And she said, “Drink, my lord.” And she quickly lowered her jar in her hand and gave him a drink.

¹⁹ When¹ she finished giving him a drink she said, “I will also draw water for your camels until they finish drinking.”

1. Or “And”

²⁰ And she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water. And she drew water for all his camels.

²¹ And the man was gazing at her silently to know if Yahweh had made his journey successful or not.

²² And it happened that as the camels finished drinking the man took a gold ring of a half shekel in weight and two bracelets for her arms, ten shekels in weight,

²³ and said, “Please tell me, whose daughter are you? Is there a place at the house of your father for us to spend the night?”

²⁴ And she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”

²⁵ Then she said to him, “We have both straw and fodder in abundance, as well as a place to spend the night.”

²⁶ And the man knelt down and worshiped Yahweh.

²⁷ And he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld¹ his loyal love and his faithfulness from my master. I was on the way and Yahweh led me to the house of my master’s brother.”

1. Or “abandoned”

²⁸ Then the girl ran and reported these things to the household of her mother.

²⁹ Now Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. And Laban ran out to the man toward the spring.

³⁰ And when he saw the ring and the bracelets on the arms of his sister and heard the words of Rebekah his sister, who said, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man. And behold, he was standing with the camels at the spring.

³¹ And he said, “Come, O blessed one of Yahweh. Why do you stand outside? Now I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”

³² And the man came to the house and unloaded the camels. And he gave straw and fodder to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

³³ ⌞And food was placed before him⌟¹ to eat. And he said, “I will not eat until ⌞I have told my errand⌟.”² And he said, “Speak.”

1. Literally “And it was placed before him”
2. Literally “I have spoken my word”

³⁴ And he said, “I am the servant of Abraham.

³⁵ Now Yahweh has blessed my master exceedingly, and he has become great. He has given to him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male slaves and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.

³⁶ And Sarah, the wife of my master, has borne a son to my master after her old age. And he¹ has given to him all that he has.

1. That is, Abraham

³⁷ And my master made me swear, saying, ‘Do not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I am living.

³⁸ But you shall go to the house of my father, and to my family, and you shall take a wife for my son.’

³⁹ And I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not ⌞follow⌟¹ me.’

1. Literally “go after”

⁴⁰ And he said to me, ‘Yahweh, before whom I have walked, shall send his angel with you and will make your journey successful. And you shall take a wife for my son from my family, and from the house of my father.

⁴¹ Then you shall be released from my oath, when you come to my family. And if they will not give a woman to you, then you will be released from my oath.’

⁴² Then today I came to the spring, and I said, ‘O Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, ⌞if you would please make my journey successful⌟,¹ upon which I am going.

1. Literally “if there is you making successful my journey”

⁴³ Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. Let it be that the young woman who comes out to draw water and to whom I say, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar,”

⁴⁴ let her say to me, “Drink; I will also draw water for your camels,” she is the woman whom Yahweh has appointed for the son of my master.’