Bible Time

¹NOW Abraham was old and well advanced in years; and Yahvah had blessed him in all things. ²And Abraham called his eldest servant, the steward of his house, who was in charge of everything that he had; and he said to him, Put your hand under my belt; ³And I will make you swear by Yahvah, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take for my son a wife of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live; ⁴But that you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac. ⁵And the servant said to him, Suppose the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land; must I then take your son back to the land where you came from? ⁶And Abraham said to him, Beware that you do not take my son there again.

⁷Yahvah God of heaven, who took me from there, from my father's household and from the land of my relatives, and who spoke to me, and who made a contract with me, saying, To your descendants I will give this land; he will send his angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. ⁸And if the woman will not be willing to follow you, then you will be clear from this my oath; only you must not take my son there again. ⁹So the servant put his hand under the belt of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰And the servant took 10 camels of the camels of his master, and departed, carrying with him all kinds of choice things from his master; and he arose, and went to Aramnahrin, to the city of Nahor. ¹¹And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening, the very time when women go out to draw water. ¹²And he prayed, saying, Oh Yahvah God of my master Abraham, prosper my journey, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³Look, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴Let it come to pass that the young woman to whom I will say, Let down your pitcher, that I may drink; and she will say to me, Drink, and I will water your camels also; let the same be she that you have selected for your servant Isaac; and by this token I will know that you have shown kindness and faithfulness to my master.

¹⁵And it came to pass, before he had finished speaking, that, look, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher on her shoulder. ¹⁶And the young woman was very beautiful to look on, a virgin whom no man had known; and she went down to the well and filled her pitcher and came up. ¹⁷And the servant ran to meet her and said, Let me drink a little water from your pitcher. ¹⁸And she said, Drink, my lord; and she hurried and let down the pitcher on her hands and gave him a drink. ¹⁹And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, I will also draw water for your camels, until they are all watered. ²⁰So she hurried and emptied her pitcher into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew water for all his camels. ²¹And as the man watered his camels he scrutinized her, and waited to know whether Yahvah had made his journey prosperous or not. ²²And it came to pass, when the camels were through drinking, the man took golden earrings weighing a shekel and 2 bracelets for her wrists weighing 10 shekels of gold, ²³And said to her, Whose daughter are you? Tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to lodge? ²⁴And she said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor. ²⁵And she said moreover to him, We have plenty of straw and hay, and room to lodge in. ²⁶And the man knelt on the ground and worshiped Yahvah. ²⁷And he said, Blessed be Yahvah God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld his grace and his truth from my master; while I was on the road, Yahvah led me to the house of my master's brother, to take his brother's daughter to his son. ²⁸Then the young woman ran, and related these things to her father's household.

²⁹And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban; so Laban ran out to the man, to the well. ³⁰And it came to pass, when he saw the earrings and the bracelets on his sister's hands and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus the man spoke to me, he came to the man; and look, he was standing by the camels at the well. ³¹And he said to him, Come in, you blessed of Yahvah; why do you stand in the street? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.

³²So the man came into the house and ungirded the camels and gave straw and hay for the camels, and was given water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ³³And food was set before them to eat; but Abraham's steward said, I will not eat until I have told my errand. And they said, Speak on. ³⁴And he said, I am Abraham's servant. ³⁵And Yahvah has blessed my master greatly, so that he has become great; and he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, and camels and donkeys. ³⁶And Sarah my master's wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and to him he has given all that he has. ³⁷And my master made me swear, saying, You must not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; ³⁸But you will go to my father's house and to my relatives, and take a wife to my son. ³⁹And I said to my master, Suppose the woman will be unwilling to follow me? ⁴⁰And he said to me, Yahvah before whom I worship will send his angel with you, and prosper your way; and you will take a wife for my son of my relatives and of my father's house; ⁴¹Then you will be clear from my oath, when you go to my relatives; and if they do not give you a bride, you will be clear from my oath. ⁴²And I came today to the well, and said, Oh Yahvah God of my master Abraham, if now you prosper my mission for which I came, ⁴³Look, I am standing by the well of water, and it will come to pass that when the young woman comes forth to draw water, and I say to her, Let me drink a little water from your pitcher, ⁴⁴And she says to me, Drink, and I will also draw for your camels, let her be the same woman whom Yahvah has appointed for my master's son. ⁴⁵And before I was through speaking in my heart, look, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down to the fountain, and drew water; and I said to her, Let me drink a little water from your pitcher. ⁴⁶And she hurried, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will also water your camels; so I drank, and she also watered my camels. ⁴⁷Then I asked her, and said, Whose daughter are you? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him; and I put the earrings on her ears and the bracelets on her hands. ⁴⁸And I knelt and worshiped Yahvah, and blessed Yahvah God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to the house of my master's brother to take my master's brother's daughter to his son. ⁴⁹And now if you would deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me; so that I may know what to do. ⁵⁰Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceeded from Yahvah; we cannot say anything to you good or bad. ⁵¹Look, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as Yahvah has spoken. ⁵²And it came to pass that, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshiped Yahvah, bowing himself to the earth. ⁵³And the servant brought forth jewels of gold and jewels of silver and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave gifts to her brother and to her mother. ⁵⁴And he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and spent the night there; and the servant rose up in the morning, and said to them, Send me away to my master. ⁵⁵And her brother and her mother said to him, Let the young woman stay with us a month, or at least a few days; and then she will go. ⁵⁶And he said to them, Do not delay me, seeing Yahvah has prospered my errand; send me away that I may go to my master. ⁵⁷And they said, We will call the young woman, and ask her. ⁵⁸So they called Rebekah, and said to her, Will you go with this man? And she said, I will go. ⁵⁹And they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men. ⁶⁰And they blessed Rebekah their sister, and said to her, You are our sister, be the mother of 1,000s and of 1,000,000s, and let your descendants inherit the lands of their enemies. ⁶¹Then Rebekah arose with her maids, and they rode on the camels, and followed the man; and the servant took Rebekah and went his way.

⁶²And Isaac had returned from the well of Khayakhezan; for he lived in the south country. ⁶³Now Isaac strolled in the field in the evening; and he lifted up his eyes and saw, and look, the camels were coming. ⁶⁴And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she leaned over the camel, ⁶⁵And she said to the servant, Who is this man who is walking in the field to meet us? And the servant said, It is my master; therefore she took a veil and covered herself. ⁶⁶And the servant told Isaac all the things that she had done. ⁶⁷And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.