Genesis 24

Chapter 24

A Bride for Isaac

¹Now ^aAbraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had ^bblessed Abraham in every way.

²Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had ^acharge of all that he owned, “^bPlease place your hand under my thigh,

³and I will make you swear by the Lord, ^athe God of heaven and the God of earth, that you ^bshall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of ^cthe Canaanites, among whom I live,

⁴but you will go to ^amy country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?”

⁶Then Abraham said to him, “^aBeware that you do not take my son back there!

⁷“^aThe Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘^bTo your ¹descendants I will give this land,’ He will send ^cHis angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.

⁸“But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will ^abe free from this my oath; ^bonly do not take my son back there.”

⁹So the servant ^aplaced his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and set out with a variety of ^agood things of his master’s in his hand; and he arose and went to ¹Mesopotamia, to ^bthe city of Nahor.

¹¹He made the camels kneel down outside the city by ^athe well of water at evening time, ^bthe time when women go out to draw water.

¹²He said, “^aO Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please ^1bgrant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham.

¹³“Behold, ^aI am standing by the ¹spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water;

¹⁴now may it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and ¹who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’—may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.”

Rebekah Is Chosen

^15aBefore he had finished speaking, behold, ^bRebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of ^cMilcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder.

¹⁶The girl was ^avery beautiful, a virgin, and no man had ¹had relations with her; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.

¹⁷Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “^aPlease let me drink a little water from your jar.”

^18aShe said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink.

¹⁹Now when she had finished giving him a drink, ^ashe said, “I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.”

²⁰So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.

^21aMeanwhile, the man was gazing at her ¹in silence, to know whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.

²²When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a ^agold ring weighing a half-shekel and two bracelets for her ¹wrists weighing ten shekels in gold,

²³and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to lodge in your father’s house?”

²⁴She said to him, “^aI am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”

²⁵Again she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to lodge in.”

²⁶Then the man ^abowed low and worshiped the Lord.

²⁷He said, “^aBlessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken ^bHis lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, ^cthe Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”

²⁸Then ^athe girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things.

²⁹Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was ^aLaban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring.

³⁰When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s ¹wrists, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “²This is what the man said to me,” he went to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.

³¹And he said, “^aCome in, ^bblessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside since ^cI have prepared the house, and a place for the camels?”

³²So the man entered the house. Then ^1aLaban unloaded the camels, and he gave straw and feed to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

³³But when food was set before him to eat, he said, “I will not eat until I have told my business.” And he said, “Speak on.”

³⁴So he said, “I am ^aAbraham’s servant.

³⁵“The Lord has greatly ^ablessed my master, so that he has become ¹rich; and He has given him ^bflocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and maids, and camels and donkeys.

³⁶“Now ^aSarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master ¹in her old age, and ^bhe has given him all that he has.

³⁷“^aMy master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I ¹live;

³⁸but you shall go to my father’s house and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’

³⁹“^aI said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’

⁴⁰“He said to me, ‘^aThe Lord, before whom I have ^bwalked, will send ^cHis angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house;

^41athen you will be free from my oath, when you come to my relatives; and if they do not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’

⁴²“So ^aI came today to the spring, and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I go ^bsuccessful;

⁴³behold, ^aI am standing by the ¹spring, and may it be that the maiden who comes out to draw, and to whom I say, “^bPlease let me drink a little water from your jar”;

⁴⁴and she will say to me, “You drink, and I will draw for your camels also”; let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’

⁴⁵“Before I had finished ^aspeaking in my heart, behold, ^bRebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and went down to the spring and drew, and ^cI said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’

⁴⁶“She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘^aDrink, and I will water your camels also’; so I drank, and she watered the camels also.

⁴⁷“^aThen I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him’; and I put the ^bring on her nose, and the bracelets on her ¹wrists.

⁴⁸“And I ^abowed low and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, ^bwho had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s ¹kinsman for his son.

⁴⁹“So now if you are going to ^1adeal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, let me know, that I may turn to the right hand or the left.”

⁵⁰Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “^aThe matter comes from the Lord; ^bso we cannot speak to you bad or good.

⁵¹“Here is Rebekah before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.”

⁵²When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he ^abowed himself to the ground ¹before the Lord.

⁵³The servant brought out ^aarticles of silver and articles of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.

⁵⁴Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they arose in the morning, he said, “^aSend me away to my master.”

⁵⁵But her brother and her mother said, “^aLet the girl stay with us a few days, say ten; afterward she may go.”

⁵⁶He said to them, “Do not delay me, since ^athe Lord has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”

⁵⁷And they said, “We will call the girl and ¹consult her wishes.”

⁵⁸Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.”

⁵⁹Thus they sent away their sister Rebekah and ^aher nurse with Abraham’s servant and his men.

⁶⁰They blessed Rebekah and said to her,

“May you, our sister,

^aBecome thousands of ten thousands,

And may ^byour ¹descendants possess

The gate of those who hate them.”

⁶¹Then Rebekah arose with her maids, and they mounted the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed.

Isaac Marries Rebekah

⁶²Now Isaac had come from going to ^aBeer-lahai-roi; for he ¹was living in ^bthe ²Negev.

⁶³Isaac went out ^ato ¹meditate in the field toward evening; and ^bhe lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming.

⁶⁴Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from the camel.

⁶⁵She said to the servant, “Who is that man walking in the field to meet us?” And the servant said, “He is my master.” Then she took her ¹veil and covered herself.

⁶⁶The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.

⁶⁷Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and ^ahe took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and ^bhe loved her; thus Isaac was comforted after ^chis mother’s death.