Genesis 22-24 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)

Genesis 22

 ¹After these things, God tempted Abraham, and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am.

    ²He said to him: Take thy only begotten son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of vision: and there thou shalt offer him for a holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will show thee.

    ³So Abraham rising up in the night, saddled his ass: and took with him two young men, and Isaac his son: and when he had cut wood for the holocaust he went his way to the place which God had commanded him.

    ⁴And on the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar off.

    ⁵And he said to his young men: Stay you here with the ass: I and the boy will go with speed as far as yonder, and after we have worshipped, will return to you.

    ⁶And he took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son: and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword. And as they two went on together,

    ⁷Isaac said to his father: My father. And he answered: What wilt thou, son? Behold, saith he, fire and wood: where is the victim for the holocaust?

    ⁸And Abraham said: God will provide himself a victim for an holocaust, my son. So they went on together.

    ⁹And they came to the place which God had shown him, where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it: and when he had bound Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood.

    ¹⁰And he put forth his hand and took the sword, to sacrifice his son.

    ¹¹And behold an angel of the Lord from heaven called to him, saying: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am.

    ¹²And he said to him: Lay not thy hand upon the boy, neither do thou any thing to him: now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake.

    ¹³Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram amongst the briers sticking fast by the horns, which he took and offered for a holocaust instead of his son.

    ¹⁴And he called the name of that place, The Lord seeth. Whereupon even to this day it is said: In the mountain the Lord will see.

    ¹⁵And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, saying:

    ¹⁶By my own self have I sworn, saith the Lord: because thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake:

    ¹⁷I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the seashore: thy seed shall possess the gates of their enemies.

    ¹⁸And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.

    ¹⁹Abraham returned to his young men, and they went to Bersabee together, and he dwelt there.

    ²⁰After these things, it was told Abraham that Melcha also had borne children to Nachor his brother.

    ²¹Hus the firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Camuel the father of the Syrians,

    ²²And Cased, and Azau, and Pheldas, and Jedlaph,

    ²³And Bathuel, of whom was born Rebecca: These eight did Melcha bear to Nachor Abraham's brother.

    ²⁴And his concubine, named Roma, bore Tabee, and Gaham, and Tahas, and Maacha.

   

Genesis 23

 ¹And Sara lived a hundred and twenty-seven years.

    ²And she died in the city of Arbee which is Hebron, in the land of Chanaan: and Abraham came to mourn and weep for her.

    ³And after he rose up from the funeral obsequies, he spoke to the children of Heth, saying:

    ⁴I am a stranger and sojourner among you: give me the right of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead.

    ⁵The children of Heth answered, saying:

    ⁶My Lord, hear us, thou art a prince of God among us: bury thy dead in our principle sepulchers: and no man shall have power to hinder thee from burying thy dead in his sepulcher.

    ⁷Abraham rose up, and bowed down to the people of the land, to wit the children of Heth:

    ⁸And said to them: If it please your soul that I should bury my dead, hear me, and intercede for me to Ephron the son of Seor.

    ⁹That he may give me the double cave, which he hath in the end of his field: for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me before you, for a possession of a buryingplace.

    ¹⁰Now Ephron dwelt in the midst of the children of Heth. And Ephron made answer to Abraham in the hearing of all that went in at the gate of the city, saying:

    ¹¹Let it not be so, my lord, but do thou rather hearken to what I say: The field I deliver to thee, and the cave that is therein, in the presence of the children of my people, bury thy dead.

    ¹²Abraham bowed down before the people of the land,

    ¹³And he spoke to Ephron, in the presence of the people: I beseech thee to hear me: I will give money for the field: take it, and so I will bury my dead in it.

    ¹⁴And Ephron answered:

    ¹⁵My lord, hear me. The ground which thou desirest, is worth four hundred sicles of silver: this is the price between me and thee: but what is this? bury thy dead.

    ¹⁶And when Abraham had heard this, he weighed out the money that Ephron had asked, in the hearing of the children of Heth, four hundred sicles of silver of common current money.

    ¹⁷And the field that before was Ephron's, wherein was the double cave, looking towards Mambre, both it and the cave, and all the trees thereof in all its limits round about,

    ¹⁸Was made sure to Abraham for a possession, in the sight of the children of Heth, and of all that went in at the gate of his city.

    ¹⁹And so Abraham buried Sara his wife, in a double cave of the field, that looked towards Mambre, this is Hebron in the land of Chanaan.

    ²⁰And the field was made sure to Abraham, and the cave that was in it, for a possession to bury in, by the children of Heth.

   

Genesis 24

 ¹Now Abraham was old; and advanced in age: and the Lord had blessed him in all things.

    ²And he said to the elder servant of his house, who was ruler over all he had: Put thy hand under my thigh,

    ³That I may make thee swear by the Lord the God of heaven and earth, that thou take not a wife for my son, of the daughters of the Chanaanites, among whom I dwell:

    ⁴But that thou go to my own country and kindred, and take a wife from thence for my son Isaac.

    ⁵The servant answered: If the woman will not come with me into this land, must I bring thy son back again to the place, from whence thou camest out?

    ⁶And Abraham said: Beware thou never bring my son back again thither.

    ⁷The Lord God of heaven, who took me out of my father's house, and out of my native country, who spoke to me, and swore to me, saying: To thy seed will I give this land: he will send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take from thence a wife for my son.

    ⁸But if the woman will not follow thee, thou shalt not be bound by the oath; only bring not my son back thither again.

    ⁹The servant therefore put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his lord, and swore to him upon this word.

    ¹⁰And he took ten camels of his master's herd, and departed, carrying something of all his goods with him, and he set forth and went on to Mesopotamia to the city of Nachor.

    ¹¹And when he had made the camels lie down without the town near a well of water in Evening, at the time when women were wont to come out to draw water, he said:

    ¹²O Lord the God of my master Abraham, meet me today, I beseech thee, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

    ¹³Behold I stand nigh the spring of water, and the daughters of the inhabitants of this city will come out to draw water.

    ¹⁴Now, therefore, the maid to whom I shall say: Let down thy pitcher that I may drink: and she shall answer, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let it be the same whom thou hast provided for thy servant Isaac: and by this I shall understand, that thou hast shown kindness to my master.

    ¹⁵he had not yet ended these words within himself, and behold Rebecca came out, the daughter of Bathuel, son of Melcha, wife to Nachor the brother of Abraham, having a pitcher on her shoulder:

    ¹⁶An exceedingly comely maid, and a most beautiful virgin, and not known to man: and she went down to the spring, and filled her pitcher and was coming back.

    ¹⁷And the servant ran to meet her, and said: Give me a little water to drink of thy pitcher.

    ¹⁸And she answered: Drink, my lord. And quickly she let down the pitcher upon her arm, and gave him drink.

    ¹⁹And when he had drunk, she said: I will draw water for thy camels also, till they all drink.

    ²⁰And pouring out the pitcher into the troughs, she ran back to the well to draw water: and having drawn she gave to all the camels.

    ²¹But he musing beheld her with silence, desirous to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.

    ²²And after that the camels had drunk, the man took out golden earrings, weighing two sicles: and as many bracelets of ten sicles weight.

    ²³And he said to her: Whose daughter art thou? tell me: is there any place in thy father's house to lodge?

    ²⁴And she answered: I am the daughter of Bathuel, the son of Melcha, whom she bore to Nachor.

    ²⁵And she said moreover to him: We have good store of both straw and hay, and a large place to lodge in.

    ²⁶The man bowed himself down, and adored the Lord,

    ²⁷Saying: Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not taken away his mercy and truth from my master, and hath brought me the straight way into the house of my master's brother.

    ²⁸Then the maid ran, and told in her mother's house, all that she had heard.

    ²⁹And Rebecca had a brother named Laban, who went out in haste to the man, to the well.

    ³⁰And when he had seen the earrings and bracelets in his sister's hands, and had heard all that she related, saying: Thus and thus the man spoke to me: he came to the man who stood by the camels, and near to the spring of water,

    ³¹And said to him: Come in, thou blessed of the Lord: why standest thou without? I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels.

    ³²And he brought him in into his lodging: and he unharnessed the camels and gave straw and hay, and water to wash his feet, and the feet of the men that were come with him.

    ³³And bread was set before him. But he said: I will not eat, till I tell my message. He answered him: Speak.

    ³⁴And he said: I am the servant of Abraham:

    ³⁵And the Lord hath blessed my master wonderfully, and he is become great: and he hath given him sheep and oxen, silver and gold, menservants and womenservants, camels and asses.

    ³⁶And Sara my master's wife hath borne my master a son in her old age, and he hath given him all that he had.

    ³⁷And my master made me swear, saying: Thou shalt not take a wife for my son of the Chanaanites, in whose land I dwell:

    ³⁸But thou shalt go to my father's house, and shalt take a wife of my own kindred for my son:

    ³⁹But I answered my master: What if the woman will not come with me?

    ⁴⁰The Lord, said he, in whose sight I walk, will send his angel with thee, and will direct thy way: and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my own kindred, and of my father's house.

    ⁴¹But thou shalt be clear from my curse, when thou shalt come to my kindred, if they will not give thee one.

    ⁴²And I came today to the well of water, and said: O Lord God of my master Abraham, if thou hast prospered my way, wherein I now walk,

    ⁴³Behold I stand by the well of water, and the virgin, that shall come out to draw water, who shall hear me say: Give me a little water to drink of thy pitcher:

    ⁴⁴And shall say to me: Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman, whom the Lord hath prepared for my master's son.

    ⁴⁵And whilst I pondered these things secretly with myself, Rebecca appeared coming with a pitcher, which she carried on her shoulder: and she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her: Give me a little to drink.

    ⁴⁶And she speedily let down the pitcher from her shoulder, and said to me: Both drink thou, and to thy camels I will give drink. I drank, and she watered the camels.

    ⁴⁷And I asked her, and said: Whose daughter art thou? And she answered: I am the daughter of Bathuel, the son of Nachor, whom Melcha bore to him. So I put earrings on her to adorn her face, and I put bracelets on her hands.

    ⁴⁸And falling down I adored the Lord, blessing the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath brought me the straight way to take the daughter of my master's brother for his son.

    ⁴⁹Wherefore if you do according to mercy and truth with my master, tell me: but if it please you otherwise, tell me that also, that I may go to the right hand, or to the left.

    ⁵⁰And Laban and Bathuel answered: The word hath proceeded from the Lord, we cannot speak any other thing to thee but his pleasure.

    ⁵¹Behold Rebecca is before thee, take her and go thy way, and let her be the wife of thy master's son, as the Lord hath spoken.

    ⁵²WHich when Abraham's servant heard, falling down to the ground he adored the Lord.

    ⁵³And bringing forth vessels of silver and gold, and garments, he gave them to Rebecca for a present. He offered gifts also to her brothers, and to her mother.

    ⁵⁴And a banquet was made, and they ate and drank together, and lodged there. And in the morning, the servant arose, and said: Let me depart, that I may go to my master.

    ⁵⁵And her brother and mother answered: Let the maid stay at least ten days with us, and afterwards she shall depart.

    ⁵⁶Stay me not, said he, because the Lord hath prospered my way: send me away, that I may go to my master.

    ⁵⁷And they said: Let us call the maid, and ask her will.

    ⁵⁸And they called her, and when she was come, they asked: Wilt thou go with this man? She said: I will go.

    ⁵⁹So they sent her away, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his company,

    ⁶⁰Wishing prosperity to their sister, and saying: Thou art our sister, mayst thou increase to thousands of thousands, and may thy seed possess the gates of their enemies.

    ⁶¹So Rebecca and her maids, being set upon camels, followed the man: who with speed returned to his master.

    ⁶²At the same time Isaac was walking along the way to the well which is called Of the living and the seeing: for he dwelt in the south country.

    ⁶³And he was gone forth to meditate in the field, the day being now well spent: and when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw camels coming afar off.

    ⁶⁴Rebecca also, when she saw Isaac, lighted off the camel,

    ⁶⁵And said to the servant: Who is that man who cometh towards us along the field? And he said to her: That man is my master. But she quickly took her cloak, and covered herself.

    ⁶⁶And the servant told Isaac all that he had done.

    ⁶⁷Who brought her into the tent of Sara his mother, and took her to wife: and he loved her so much, that it moderated the sorrow which was occasioned by his mother's death.