Genesis 21:22-24:27

Easy-to-Read Version

Abraham’s Bargain With Abimelech

²² Then Abimelech and Phicol spoke with Abraham. Phicol was the commander of Abimelech’s army. They said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. ²³ So make a promise to me here before God. Promise that you will be fair with me and with my children. Promise that you will be kind to me and this country where you have lived. Promise that you will be as kind to me as I have been to you.”

²⁴ And Abraham said, “I promise to treat you the same way you have treated me.” ²⁵ Then Abraham complained to Abimelech because Abimelech’s servants had captured a well of water.

²⁶ But Abimelech said, “I don’t know who did this. You never told me about this before today!”

²⁷ So Abraham and Abimelech made an agreement. Abraham gave Abimelech some sheep and cattle as proof of the agreement. ²⁸ Abraham also put seven^[a] female lambs in front of Abimelech.

²⁹ Abimelech asked Abraham, “Why did you put these seven female lambs by themselves?”

³⁰ Abraham answered, “When you accept these lambs from me, it will be proof that I dug this well.”

³¹ So after that, the well was called Beersheba.^[b] Abraham gave the well this name because it was the place where they made a promise to each other.

³² So Abraham and Abimelech made an agreement at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, his military commander, went back to the country of the Philistines.

³³ Abraham planted a special tree at Beersheba and prayed to the Lord, the God who lives forever. ³⁴ And Abraham lived as a stranger for a long time in the country of the Philistines.

Abraham, Kill Your Son

22 After these things God decided to test Abraham’s faith. God said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Yes!”

² Then God said, “Take your son to the land of Moriah and kill your son there as a sacrifice for me. This must be Isaac, your only son, the one you love. Use him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains there. I will tell you which mountain.”

³ In the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took Isaac and two servants with him. He cut the wood for the sacrifice. Then they went to the place where God told them to go. ⁴ After they traveled three days, Abraham looked up, and in the distance he saw the place where they were going. ⁵ Then he said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go to that place and worship. Then we will come back to you later.”

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the sacrifice and put it on his son’s shoulder. Abraham took the special knife and fire. Then both he and his son went together to the place for worship.

⁷ Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!”

Abraham answered, “Yes, son?”

Isaac said, “I see the wood and the fire. But where is the lamb we will burn as a sacrifice?”

⁸ Abraham answered, “God himself is providing the lamb for the sacrifice, my son.”

So both Abraham and his son went together to that place. ⁹ When they came to the place where God told them to go, Abraham built an altar. He carefully laid the wood on the altar. Then he tied up his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached for his knife to kill his son.

¹¹ But the angel of the Lord stopped him. The angel called from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

Abraham answered, “Yes?”

¹² The angel said, “Don’t kill your son or hurt him in any way. Now I can see that you do respect and obey God. I see that you are ready to kill your son, your only son, for me.”

¹³ Then Abraham noticed a ram whose horns were caught in a bush. So Abraham went and took the ram. He offered it, instead of his son, as a sacrifice to God. ¹⁴ So Abraham gave that place a name, “The Lord Provides.”^[c] Even today people say, “On the mountain of the Lord, he will give us what we need.”^[d]

¹⁵ The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time. ¹⁶ The angel said, “You were ready to kill your only son for me. Since you did this for me, I make you this promise: I, the Lord, promise that ¹⁷ I will surely bless you and give you as many descendants as the stars in the sky. There will be as many people as sand on the seashore. And your people will live in cities that they will take from their enemies. ¹⁸ Every nation on the earth will be blessed through your descendants. I will do this because you obeyed me.”

¹⁹ Then Abraham went back to his servants. They all traveled back to Beersheba, and Abraham stayed there.

²⁰ After all these things happened, a message was sent to Abraham. It said, “Your brother Nahor and his wife Milcah have children now. ²¹ The first son is Uz. The second son is Buz. The third son is Kemuel, the father of Aram. ²² Then there are Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ Bethuel was the father of Rebekah. Milcah was the mother of these eight sons, and Nahor was the father. Nahor was Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ Also Nahor had four other sons from his slave woman Reumah. The sons were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Sarah Dies

23 Sarah lived to be 127 years old. ² She died in the city of Kiriath Arba (Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham was very sad and cried for her there. ³ Then he left his dead wife and went to talk to the Hittites. He said, ⁴ “I am only a foreigner staying in your country. I have no place to bury my wife. Please give me some land so that I can bury her.”

⁵ The Hittites answered Abraham, ⁶ “Sir, you are a great leader^[e] among us. You can have the best place we have to bury your dead. You can have any of our burying places that you want. None of us will stop you from burying your wife there.”

⁷ Abraham got up and bowed to the people. ⁸ He said to them, “If you really want to help me bury my dead wife, speak to Ephron the son of Zohar for me. ⁹ I would like to buy the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to Ephron. It is at the end of his field. I will pay him the full price. I want all of you to be witnesses that I am buying it as a burial place.”

¹⁰ Ephron was sitting there among the people. He answered Abraham, ¹¹ “No, sir. Here in front of my people, I give you that land and the cave on it so that you can bury your wife.”

¹² Abraham bowed before the Hittites. ¹³ He said to Ephron before all the people, “But I want to give you the full price for the field. Accept my money, and I will bury my dead.”

¹⁴ Ephron answered Abraham, ¹⁵ “Sir, listen to me. Ten pounds^[f] of silver mean nothing to you or me. Take the land and bury your dead wife.”

¹⁶ Abraham understood that Ephron was telling him the price of the land.^[g] So Abraham paid him for the land. He weighed out ten pounds of silver for Ephron and gave it to the merchant.^[h]

^17-18 So the field of Ephron changed owners. This field was in Machpelah, near Mamre. Abraham became the owner of the field, the cave in it, and all the trees in the field. Everyone in the city saw the agreement between Ephron and Abraham. ¹⁹ After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of that field near Mamre (Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰ Abraham bought the field and the cave in it from the Hittites. So this became his property to be used as a burial place.

A Wife for Isaac

24 Abraham lived to be a very old man. The Lord blessed him and everything he did. ² Abraham’s oldest servant was in charge of everything he owned. Abraham called that servant to him and said, “Put your hand under my leg.^{[i] 3} Now I want you to make a promise to me. Promise to me before the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry a girl from Canaan. We live among these people, but don’t let him marry a Canaanite girl. ⁴ Go back to my country, to my own people, to find a wife for my son Isaac. Bring her here to him.”

⁵ The servant said to him, “Maybe this woman will not want to come back with me to this land. If that happens, should I take your son with me to your homeland?”

⁶ Abraham said to him, “No, don’t take my son to that place. ⁷ The Lord, the God of heaven, brought me from my homeland to this place. That place was the home of my father and the home of my family, but he promised that this new land would belong to my family. May he send his angel before you so that you can choose a wife for my son. ⁸ If the girl refuses to come with you, you will be free from this promise. But you must not take my son back to that place.”

⁹ So the servant put his hand under his master’s leg and made the promise.

The Search Begins

¹⁰ The servant took ten of Abraham’s camels and left that place. The servant carried with him many different kinds of beautiful gifts. He went to Mesopotamia, to Nahor’s city. ¹¹ In the evening, when the women come out to get water, he went to the water well outside the city. He made the camels kneel down at the well.

¹² The servant said, “Lord, you are the God of my master Abraham. Please show your kindness to my master by helping me find a wife for his son Isaac. ¹³ Here I am, standing by this well of water, and the young women from the city are coming out to get water. ¹⁴ I will say to one of them, ‘Please put your jar down so that I can drink.’ Let her answer show whether she is the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. If she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give water to your camels,’ I will know that she is the right one. It will be proof that you have shown kindness to my master.”

A Wife Is Found

¹⁵ Before the servant finished praying, a young woman named Rebekah came to the well. She was the daughter of Bethuel. (Bethuel was the son of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham’s brother.) Rebekah came to the well with her water jar on her shoulder. ¹⁶ She was very pretty. She was a virgin; no man had ever had sexual relations with her. She went down to the well and filled her jar. ¹⁷ Then the servant ran to her and said, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.”

¹⁸ Rebekah quickly lowered the jar from her shoulder and gave him a drink. She said, “Drink this, sir.” ¹⁹ As soon as she finished giving him something to drink, Rebekah said, “I will also pour some water for your camels.” ²⁰ So Rebekah quickly poured all the water from her jar into the drinking trough for the camels. Then she ran to the well to get more water, and she gave water to all the camels.

²¹ The servant quietly watched her. He wanted to be sure that the Lord had given him an answer and had made his trip successful. ²² After the camels finished drinking, he gave Rebekah a gold ring that weighed 1/4 ounce.^[j] He also gave her two gold arm bracelets that weighed 2 ounces^[k] each. ²³ The servant asked, “Who is your father? And is there a place in your father’s house for me and my men to sleep?”

²⁴ Rebekah answered, “My father is Bethuel, the son of Milcah and Nahor.” ²⁵ Then she said, “Yes, we have straw and other food for your camels and a place for you to sleep.”

²⁶ The servant bowed and worshiped the Lord. ²⁷ He said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham. The Lord has been kind and loyal to him by leading me to his own people.”