A Bride for Isaac

24 Now Abraham ^(A)was old, well advanced in age; and the Lord ^(B)had blessed Abraham in all things. ² So Abraham said ^(C)to the oldest servant of his house, who ^(D)ruled over all that he had, “Please, ^(E)put your hand under my thigh, ³ and I will make you ^(F)swear^[a] by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that ^(G)you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; ^4 (H)but you shall go ^(I)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 ^(J)took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ^(K)‘To your ^[b]descendants I give this land,’ ^(L)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 ^(M)you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.” ⁹ So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

Marriage—Christ and the Church^(A)

²² Wives, ^(B)submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For ^(C)the husband is head of the wife, as also ^(D)Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. ²⁴ Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands ^(E)in everything.

^25 (F)Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and ^(G)gave Himself for her, ²⁶ that He might ^[a]sanctify and cleanse her ^(H)with the washing of water ^(I)by the word, ^27 (J)that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, ^(K)not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. ²⁸ So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. ³⁰ For ^(L)we are members of His body, ^[b]of His flesh and of His bones. ^31 (M)“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the ^(N)two shall become one flesh.” ³² This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. ³³ Nevertheless ^(O)let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she ^(P)respects her husband.

³ The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

⁴ And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who ^[a]made them at the beginning ^(A)‘made them male and female,’ ⁵ and said, ^(B)‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and ^(C)the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

⁷ They said to Him, ^(D)“Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”

⁸ He said to them, “Moses, because of the ^(E)hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your ^(F)wives, but from the beginning it was not so.