A Wife for Isaac

24 Abraham was now old, getting on in years,^[a](A) and the Lord had blessed him in everything. ² Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his household who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh,^{(B) 3} and I will have you swear by the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,^{(C) 4} but will go to my land and my family to take a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵ The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I have your son go back to the land you came from?”

⁶ Abraham answered him, “Make sure that you don’t take my son back there. ⁷ The Lord, the God of heaven,^(D) who took me from my father’s house and from my native land,^(E) who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’^[b](F)—he will send his angel before you,^(G) and you can take a wife for my son from there. ⁸ If the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are free from this oath to me,^(H) but don’t let my son go back there.” ⁹ So the servant placed his hand under his master Abraham’s thigh and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰ The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and with all kinds of his master’s goods in hand, he went to Aram-naharaim, to Nahor’s town. ¹¹ At evening, the time when women went out to draw water, he made the camels kneel beside a well outside the town.

¹² “Lord, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “make this happen for me today,^(I) and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³ I am standing here^(J) at the spring where the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴ Let the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your water jug so that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also’—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

¹⁵ Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah—daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah,^(K) the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor—coming with a jug on her shoulder. ¹⁶ Now the girl was very beautiful,^(L) a virgin—no man had been intimate with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up. ¹⁷ Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from your jug.”

¹⁸ She replied, “Drink, my lord.” She quickly lowered her jug to her hand and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I’ll also draw water for your camels until they have had enough to drink.”^{[c] 20} She quickly emptied her jug into the trough and hurried to the well again to draw water. She drew water for all his camels ²¹ while the man silently watched her to see whether or not the Lord had made his journey a success.

²² As the camels finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, and for her wrists two bracelets weighing ten shekels of gold. ²³ “Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

²⁴ She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵ She also said to him, “We have plenty of straw and feed and a place to spend the night.”

²⁶ Then the man knelt low, worshiped the Lord,^{(M) 27} and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld his kindness and faithfulness from my master.^(N) As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”

²⁸ The girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things.

⁵⁸ They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”

She replied, “I will go.” ⁵⁹ So they sent away their sister Rebekah with the one who had nursed and raised her,^[a](A) and Abraham’s servant and his men.

⁵ Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.^{(A) 6} But let him ask in faith without doubting.^[a] For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, ⁸ being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.^[b](B)