Genesis 16:1–16
16 aNow Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was bHagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children1 by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram chad lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, dshe looked with contempt on her mistress.2 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May ethe Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.
7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to fShur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” 9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, g“I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11 And the angel of the Lord said to her,
“Behold, you are pregnant
and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,3
hbecause the Lord has listened to your affliction.
12 He shall be ia wild donkey of a man,
his hand against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he shall dwell jover against all his kinsmen.”
13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,”4 for she said, k“Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”5 14 Therefore the well was called lBeer-lahai-roi;6 it lies between mKadesh and Bered.
15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
Genesis 23:1–32:32
23 Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 And Sarah died at dKiriath-arba (that is, eHebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3 And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites,1 4 f“I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; ggive me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” 5 The Hittites answered Abraham, 6 “Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God2 among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.” 7 Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. 8 And he said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, 9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”
10 Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who hwent in at the gate of his city, 11 “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.” 12 Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. 13 And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.” 14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 “My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred ishekels3 of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” 16 Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham jweighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
17 So kthe field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over 18 to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city. 19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 The field and the cave that is in it lwere made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.
24 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord mhad blessed Abraham in all things. 2 And Abraham said to his servant, nthe oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, o“Put your hand under my thigh, 3 that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that pyou will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, 4 qbut will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” 5 The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” 6 Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. 7 The Lord, the God of heaven, rwho took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, s‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ the will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 8 But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then uyou will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant vput his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.
10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose and went to wMesopotamia1 to the city of Nahor. 11 And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time when xwomen go out to draw water. 12 And he said, “O Lord, yGod of my master Abraham, zplease grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. 13 Behold, aI am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. bBy this2 I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”
15 Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of cMilcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder. 16 The young woman dwas very attractive in appearance, a maiden3 whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. 17 Then the servant ran to …