Genesis 24
24
A Wife for Isaac
1Abraham was now very old, and the LORD had blessed him in everything he did. 2He said to his oldest servant, who was in charge of all that he had, “Place your hand between my thighs#24.2 Place… thighs: This was the way in which a vow was made absolutely unchangeable. and make a vow. 3I want you to make a vow in the name of the LORD, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not choose a wife for my son from the people here in Canaan. 4You must go back to the country where I was born and get a wife for my son Isaac from among my relatives.”
5But the servant asked, “What if the young woman will not leave home to come with me to this land? Shall I send your son back to the land you came from?”
6Abraham answered, “Make sure that you don't send my son back there! 7The LORD, the God of heaven, brought me from the home of my father and from the land of my relatives, and he solemnly promised me that he would give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel before you, so that you can get a wife there for my son. 8If the young woman is not willing to come with you, you will be free from this promise. But you must not under any circumstances take my son back there.” 9So the servant put his hand between the thighs of Abraham, his master, and made a vow to do what Abraham had asked.
10The servant, who was in charge of Abraham's property, took ten of his master's camels and went to the city where Nahor had lived in northern Mesopotamia. 11When he arrived, he made the camels kneel down at the well outside the city. It was late afternoon, the time when women came out to get water. 12He prayed, “LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today and keep your promise to my master. 13Here I am at the well where the young women of the city will be coming to get water. 14I will say to one of them, ‘Please, lower your jar and let me have a drink.’ If she says, ‘Drink, and I will also bring water for your camels,’ may she be the one that you have chosen for your servant Isaac. If this happens, I will know that you have kept your promise to my master.”
15Before he had finished praying, Rebecca arrived with a water jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham's brother Nahor and his wife Milcah. 16She was a very beautiful young woman and still a virgin. She went down to the well, filled her jar, and came back. 17The servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a drink of water from your jar.”
18She said, “Drink, sir,” and quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and held it while he drank. 19When he had finished, she said, “I will also bring water for your camels and let them have all they want.” 20She quickly emptied her jar into the animals' drinking-trough and ran to the well to get more water, until she had watered all his camels. 21The man kept watching her in silence, to see if the LORD had given him success.
22When she had finished, the man took an expensive gold ring and put it in her nose and put two large gold bracelets on her arms. 23He said, “Please tell me who your father is. Is there room in his house for my men and me to spend the night?”
24“My father is Bethuel son of Nahor and Milcah,” she answered. 25“There is plenty of straw and fodder at our house, and there is a place for you to stay.”
26Then the man knelt down and worshipped the LORD. 27He said, “Praise the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has faithfully kept his promise to my master. The LORD has led me straight to my master's relatives.”
28The young woman ran to her mother's house and told the whole story. 29Now Rebecca had a brother named Laban, and he ran outside to go to the well where Abraham's servant was. 30Laban had seen the nose-ring and the bracelets on his sister's arms and had heard her say what the man had told her. He went to Abraham's servant, who was standing by his camels at the well, 31and said, “Come home with me. You are a man whom the LORD has blessed. Why are you standing out here? I have a room ready for you in my house, and there is a place for your camels.”
32So the man went into the house, and Laban unloaded the camels and gave them straw and fodder. Then he brought water for Abraham's servant and his men to wash their feet. 33When food was brought, the man said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.”
Laban said, “Go on and speak.”
34“I am the servant of Abraham,” he began. 35“The LORD has greatly blessed my master and made him a rich man. He has given him flocks of sheep and goats, cattle, silver, gold, male and female slaves, camels, and donkeys. 36Sarah, my master's wife, bore him a son when she was old, and my master has given everything he owns to him. 37My master made me promise with a vow to obey his command. He said, ‘Do not choose a wife for my son from the young women in the land of Canaan. 38Instead, go to my father's people, to my relatives, and choose a wife for him.’ 39And I asked my master, ‘What if she will not come with me?’ 40He answered, ‘The LORD, whom I have always obeyed, will send his angel with you and give you success. You will get for my son a wife from my own people, from my father's family. 41There is only one way for you to be free from your vow: if you go to my relatives and they refuse you, then you will be free.’
42“When I came to the well today, I prayed, ‘LORD, God of my master Abraham, please give me success in what I am doing. 43Here I am at the well. When a young woman comes out to get water, I will ask her to give me a drink of water from her jar. 44If she agrees and also offers to bring water for my camels, may she be the one that you have chosen as the wife for my master's son.’ 45Before I had finished my silent prayer, Rebecca came with a water jar on her shoulder and went down to the well to get water. I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ 46She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels. 47I asked her, ‘Who is your father?’ And she answered, ‘My father is Bethuel son of Nahor and Milcah.’ Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms. 48I knelt down and worshipped the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me straight to my master's relative, where I found his daughter for my master's son. 49Now, if you intend to fulfil your responsibility towards my master and treat him fairly, please tell me; if not, say so, and I will decide what to do.”
50Laban and Bethuel answered, “Since this matter comes from the LORD, it is not for us to make a decision. 51Here is Rebecca; take her and go. Let her become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD himself has said.” 52When the servant of Abraham heard this, he bowed down and worshipped the LORD. 53Then he brought out clothing and silver and gold jewellery, and gave them to Rebecca. He also gave expensive gifts to her brother and to her mother.
54Then Abraham's servant and the men with him ate and drank, and spent the night there. When they got up in the morning, he said, “Let me go back to my master.”
55But Rebecca's brother and her mother said, “Let her stay with us a week or ten days, and then she may go.”
56But he said, “Don't make us stay. The LORD has made my journey a success; let me go back to my master.”
57They answered, “Let's call her and find out what she has to say.” 58So they called Rebecca and asked, “Do you want to go with this man?”
“Yes,” she answered.
59So they let Rebecca and her old family servant go with Abraham's servant and his men. 60And they gave Rebecca their blessing in these words:
“May you, sister, become the mother of millions!
May your descendants conquer the cities of their enemies!”
61Then Rebecca and her young women got ready and mounted the camels to go with Abraham's servant, and they all started out.
62Isaac had come into the wilderness of#24.62 Some ancient translations into the wilderness of; Hebrew from coming. “The Well of the Living One who Sees Me” and was staying in the southern part of Canaan. 63He went out in the early evening to take a walk in the fields and saw camels coming. 64When Rebecca saw Isaac, she got down from her camel 65and asked Abraham's servant, “Who is that man walking towards us in the field?”
“He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her scarf and covered her face.
66The servant told Isaac everything he had done. 67Then Isaac brought Rebecca into the tent that his mother Sarah had lived in, and she became his wife. Isaac loved Rebecca, and so he was comforted for the loss of his mother.
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Genesis 24: GNBDC
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Genesis 24
24
Abraham sent his worker to find a wife for his son Isaac
1Abraham was very old, and God was very good to him in every way.
2Abraham had workers that looked after everything he owned. One of those workers was older than all the other workers, and he was in charge of all the other workers too. One day, Abraham talked to that oldest worker. He said, “I want you to make me a strong promise. So come here and put your hand under my leg.” You see, in Abraham’s culture, people sometimes made promises to each other that way. The person that made the promise, they put their hand under the other person’s leg, and that showed that they had to keep their promise.
3Abraham said to the worker, “I want you to make this promise with God listening. His name is Yahweh, and he is the boss of heaven and earth. Promise me that you will not get a wife for my son Isaac from this country that we are living in. Don’t get him a wife from the Canaan people that live here. 4No, I want you to go back to my home country and get a wife for Isaac from my relatives.”
5Then Abraham’s worker said, “Yes, I will do that. But think about this. Maybe I will pick a woman to be Isaac’s wife, and that woman will not want to leave her home country and come with me here, to Canaan country. Then what do you want me to do? Maybe I can come back here and get Isaac, and then I can take him to your home country to get married?”
6Abraham said, “No way. Make sure that you never take Isaac back to my home country. He has to stay here in Canaan country. 7You know that Yahweh my God is the boss in heaven. He took me away from my father’s family and my home country, and he brought me here to Canaan country. And God made me a strong promise. He said, ‘I am going to give this country to all the people that will be born into your family later on.’ ”
Then Abraham said, “I know that God will help you find a wife for my son. Yes, God will send an angel worker to my home country to get things ready for you. When you get there, you will find a woman for my son Isaac to marry. 8But if that woman doesn’t want to leave her home country and come back here with you, then don’t worry. You will not have to keep that promise any more. But I tell you again, you can never take my son Isaac back to my home country.”
9So Abraham’s worker put his hand under Abraham’s leg, and he made that strong promise, just like Abraham told him to. He said, “I promise that I will not get a wife for your son Isaac from the Canaan people that live here in this country. I promise that I will go back to your home country and get a wife for Isaac from your relatives.”
10Abraham wanted to give lots of really good presents to his relatives, so the worker got those presents ready, and he got 10 of Abraham’s camels to carry everything, and he got some of Abraham’s other workers to go with him. They all left that place, and they went north, all the way to Abraham’s home country. That country was called Aram Naharayim. When they got to that country, they went towards the town where Abraham’s brother Nahor lived.
Abraham’s worker met Rebekah
11Abraham’s worker stopped near that town, next to a water-hole, and he let the camels lie down there to rest. It was nearly night time, and the young women that lived in that town, they were going to the water-hole to get water. They used to do that at the same time every day.
12Abraham’s worker saw those young women, and he prayed to God. He said, “Yahweh, you are the God of my boss Abraham. Please be very good to Abraham, just like you promised him. Please let me find a wife for Abraham’s son Isaac today. 13Look, I am standing next to this water-hole, and the young women that live in the town are coming out to get water. 14Please show me which woman you picked to be Isaac’s wife.”
Then Abraham’s worker said to God, “I will talk to one of those women, and I will say, ‘Please give me a drink from your jar of water.’ Maybe that woman will say to me, ‘Yes, I will give you a drink, and I’ll give your camels some water too.’ If she says that, then I will know that she is the woman you picked to be Isaac’s wife. And I will know that you have been very good to my boss Abraham, just like you promised him.”
15While Abraham’s worker was still praying, a young woman walked out of the town with a jar on her shoulder. That woman’s name was Rebekah, and her father’s name was Bethuel. Bethuel’s mother was Milcah, and Bethuel’s father was Nahor. And Nahor was Abraham’s brother.
16Rebekah was a very beautiful young woman, and she wasn’t married. She never slept with a man, like a woman sleeps with her husband.
Rebekah got to the water-hole, and she went down to the water and filled up her jar, and then she came back up.
17Then Abraham’s worker ran to meet Rebekah. He said to her, “Please let me drink a little bit of water from your jar.”
18Rebekah said, “Yes, please have a drink, sir.” Straight away, she took the jar off her shoulder. Then she held the jar in her hands and gave Abraham’s worker a drink.
19After Rebekah finished giving him a drink, she said, “Now I will get water for your camels too, until they have enough to drink.” 20Then she quickly poured the rest of the water from her jug for the camels to drink. Then she ran back to the water-hole to get more water. She kept on doing that until all the camels had enough to drink.
21While Rebekah was getting the water, Abraham’s worker kept on looking at her, but he didn’t say anything. He waited to see if she was the woman that God picked to be Isaac’s wife.
22After the camels finished drinking, Abraham’s worker got some of Abraham’s presents out, and he gave Rebekah some jewellery. He gave her a gold nose ring and 2 heavy gold bracelets for her arms. That nose ring was made out of 6 grams of gold, and those bracelets were made out of 120 grams of gold each. 23Then the worker said to Rebekah, “Please tell me, who is your father?” Then he said, “Me and my men, we want to stay here in this town tonight. Is there enough room for us to stay at your father’s house?”
24Rebekah said to the worker, “My father’s name is Bethuel. His mother’s name is Milcah, and his father’s name is Nahor.” 25Then Rebekah said, “We have plenty of food for your camels, and we have plenty of dry grass for them to sleep on. And we have plenty of room for you and your men to stay with us tonight.”
26Then Abraham’s worker knew that Rebekah was Abraham’s relative, and he knew that God picked her to be Isaac’s wife. So he got down on his knees and put his face near the ground, to thank God and show him respect. 27He said, “Yahweh, you are really great. You are the God of my boss Abraham. You keep on being very good to him, just like you promised him. We can always trust you. You brought me straight to Abraham’s relatives, so that I can get a wife for Isaac.”
Abraham’s worker talked to Rebekah’s family
28Rebekah ran home and told her family what happened. 29-30She told them everything that Abraham’s worker said to her at the water-hole, and she showed them the gold nose ring and the gold bracelets that Abraham’s worker gave her. Rebekah’s brother Laban was there, and straight away he ran to the water-hole to find Abraham’s worker, and he found him standing there next to his camels. 31Then Laban said to Abraham’s worker, “Sir, I can see that God is good to you. Please, don’t keep on standing here at the water-hole. Come home with me. I have a room ready for you, and I have a place for your camels to stay too.”
32So Abraham’s worker, and the other men that were with him, they went to the house with Laban. Then they took the bags off the camels, and Laban got food for the camels to eat and dry grass for them to sleep on. He also got water so that Abraham’s worker and his men could wash their feet. 33After that, he got Abraham’s worker and his men some food. But Abraham’s worker said, “I will not eat yet. First I have to tell you why I came here.”
Laban said to him, “Yes, tell us.”
34So Abraham’s worker talked to Laban and the other people in Rebekah’s family. He said, “I work for Abraham. 35His God Yahweh is really good to him, and now Abraham is very rich. Yes, God gave him a lot of sheep, and cows, and camels, and donkeys, and a lot of silver and gold. God also gave him a lot of men and women to work for him. 36And Abraham has a son too. Yes, Abraham’s wife Sarah had a baby boy when she was very old. That boy is a man now, and later, when Abraham dies, he will get everything that belonged to Abraham.”
37Then Abraham’s worker said, “My boss Abraham got me to make him a strong promise. He said, ‘Promise me that you will not get a wife for my son from this country that we are living in. Don’t get him a wife from the Canaan people that live here. 38No, you have to go to my father’s family and my other relatives, and get a wife for my son.’
39Then I said to my boss Abraham, ‘Maybe I will pick a woman, and that woman will not want to leave her home country and come with me here, to Canaan country. Then what do you want me to do?’
40Then my boss Abraham said, ‘Listen, I trust Yahweh my God, and I always live his way. I know that he will send an angel worker to go with you and help you, so that you will find a wife for my son from my father’s family. 41But if you pick a woman to be my son’s wife, and her relatives will not let her go with you, then don’t worry. You will not have to keep that promise any more.’ ”
42Then Abraham’s worker said, “Today, I came to the water-hole that is near your town. Then I prayed to God. I said, ‘Yahweh, you are the God of my boss Abraham. Please let me find a wife for Abraham’s son today. 43-44Look, I am standing next to this water-hole, and the young women that live in the town, they are coming out to get water. Please show me which one you picked for Abraham’s son. I will talk to one of those women, and I will say, “Please let me drink a little bit of water from your jar.” Maybe that woman will say to me, “Yes, I will give you a drink, and I’ll give your camels some water too.” If she says that, then I will know that she is the woman you picked for Abraham’s son.’
45While I was still praying quietly to God, Rebekah walked out of the town with a jar on her shoulder. She went down to the water-hole and got some water. Then I said to Rebekah, ‘Please let me have a drink.’ 46Straight away, she took the jar off her shoulder and she said, ‘Yes, have a drink. And I will get water for your camels too.’ So I had a drink, and then she got water for my camels.
47Then I said, ‘Who is your father?’ And she said, ‘My father’s name is Bethuel. His father’s name is Nahor, and his mother’s name is Milcah.’ Then I knew that Rebekah is from Abraham’s family, and I knew that God picked her to marry Abraham’s son. So I gave Rebekah a gold nose ring and 2 gold bracelets for her arms. 48Then I got down on my knees and put my face near the ground, to thank God and show him respect. I said, ‘Yahweh, you are really great. You are the God of my boss Abraham. You brought me straight here to Abraham’s relatives, so that I can get a wife for Abraham’s son.’ ”
49Abraham’s worker kept on talking to Rebekah’s family. He said, “Now I’m asking you to be very good and fair to my boss Abraham. Will you let me take Rebekah to Canaan country, so that she can marry Abraham’s son? Please tell me if you will say yes or no. Then I will know what I have to do after this.”
50Then Rebekah’s brother Laban, and her father Bethuel, they talked to Abraham’s worker. They said, “Those things that you told us, we know that God made them happen. So we can’t argue with you. 51Look, here is Rebekah. Take her with you to Canaan country, so that she can marry Abraham’s son. That is what God wants.”
52Then Abraham’s worker got down on his knees and put his face near the ground, to thank God and show him respect. 53After that, the worker gave Rebekah and her family some presents from Abraham. He gave Rebekah some clothes, and some pretty things made out of silver and gold. And he also gave presents that cost a lot of money to Rebekah’s brother Laban, and to her mother.
Rebekah left her family and went to Canaan country
54Abraham’s worker and his men ate some food, and then they stayed the night with Rebekah’s family. The next morning, they got up, and Abraham’s worker talked to Rebekah’s family. He said, “Let me take Rebekah and go back to my boss Abraham.”
55But Rebekah’s brother and mother said, “Let Rebekah stay here a bit longer, maybe 10 more days, and after that she can go with you.”
56Abraham’s worker said, “Please don’t make me wait any longer. You know that God picked Rebekah to marry Abraham’s son, and he helped me find her. So please let her come with me now, so that we can go back to my boss Abraham.”
57Then Rebekah’s brother and mother said, “All right, we will get Rebekah and ask her what she wants to do.” 58So they got Rebekah, and they said to her, “Do you want to go with this man to Canaan country now, so that you can marry Abraham’s son?”
Rebekah said, “Yes, I will go now.”
59So Rebekah’s family said to Abraham’s worker, “All right, Rebekah can go with you and your men to Canaan country now. And she can take some women that work for our family. They can live in Canaan country with her and work for her there.” One of those women used to look after Rebekah when she was a little girl.
60Then Rebekah’s family asked God to be good to Rebekah. They said to her,
“We are asking God to give you lots of kids and grand-kids,
so that your family will become a really big mob of people.
And we are asking God to make them strong,
so that when other people fight against your mob, your mob will win,
and then your mob will take the towns that belonged to those other people.”
61Then Rebekah and her working women, they got on camels, and they went with Abraham’s worker and his men, to go all the way to Canaan country.
Isaac met Rebekah and married her
62Abraham’s son Isaac was living in Canaan country. You see, before this time, Isaac went south, away from Abraham’s camp, and he made his camp in the south part of the country called the Negev, near a water-hole. That water-hole was called the water-hole that belongs to God, he is alive and sees me. Then when Abraham’s worker was away in Haran, Isaac came back home.
63Then one afternoon, when it was nearly night time, Isaac went out to the grass lands to think about things. Then he looked up and saw camels coming, so he walked out to meet them. 64Rebekah was riding on one of those camels, and she looked up and saw Isaac coming towards them. Straight away, she got off her camel. 65Then she said to Abraham’s worker, “I can see a man walking towards us. Who is he?”
The worker said, “He is my boss Isaac.”
Rebekah didn’t want Isaac to see her face, so she got a scarf and put it over her head. You see, in that culture, that is what a woman did when she met the man that she was going to marry. 66Then Abraham’s worker talked to Isaac, and he told Isaac everything that happened.
67There was a tent there that used to belong to Isaac’s mother Sarah. Isaac took Rebekah into that tent, and Rebekah became Isaac’s wife. Isaac loved Rebekah.
Some time before this, Isaac’s mother Sarah died, so Isaac was sad. But after he married Rebekah, he was happy again.
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