Genesis 22:10-24:8

New King James Version

¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹ But the ^(A)Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

¹² And He said, ^(B)“Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for ^(C)now I know that you fear God, since you have not ^(D)withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

¹³ Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of the place, ^[a]The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

¹⁵ Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, ¹⁶ and said: ^(E)“By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— ¹⁷ blessing I will ^(F)bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants ^(G)as the stars of the heaven ^(H)and as the sand which is on the seashore; and ^(I)your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. ^18 (J)In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, ^(K)because you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to ^(L)Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

The Family of Nahor

²⁰ Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, “Indeed ^(M)Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ^21 (N)Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father ^(O)of Aram, ²² Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ And ^(P)Bethuel begot ^[b]Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah.

Sarah’s Death and Burial

23 Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. ² So Sarah died in ^(Q)Kirjath Arba (that is, ^(R)Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

³ Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of ^(S)Heth, saying, ^4 (T)“I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. ^(U)Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

⁵ And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, ⁶ “Hear us, my lord: You are ^(V)a ^[c]mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead.”

⁷ Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. ⁸ And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your wish that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and ^[d]meet with Ephron the son of Zohar for me, ⁹ that he may give me the cave of ^(W)Machpelah which he has, which is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me at the full price, as property for a burial place among you.”

¹⁰ Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who ^(X)entered at the gate of his city, saying, ^11 (Y)“No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead!”

¹² Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land; ¹³ and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will give it, please hear me. I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there.”

¹⁴ And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, ¹⁵ “My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred ^(Z)shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.” ¹⁶ And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham ^(AA)weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants.

¹⁷ So ^(AB)the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded ¹⁸ to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.

¹⁹ And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰ So the field and the cave that is in it ^(AC)were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.

A Bride for Isaac

24 Now Abraham ^(AD)was old, well advanced in age; and the Lord ^(AE)had blessed Abraham in all things. ² So Abraham said ^(AF)to the oldest servant of his house, who ^(AG)ruled over all that he had, “Please, ^(AH)put your hand under my thigh, ³ and I will make you ^(AI)swear^[e] by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that ^(AJ)you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; ^4 (AK)but you shall go ^(AL)to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵ And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?”

⁶ But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there. ⁷ The Lord God of heaven, who ^(AM)took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ^(AN)‘To your ^[f]descendants I give this land,’ ^(AO)He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. ⁸ And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then ^(AP)you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.”