A Bride for Isaac

24 Now ^(A)Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had ^(B)blessed Abraham in every way. ² Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household who was in ^(C)charge of all that he owned, “^(D)Please place your hand under my thigh, ³ and I will make you swear by the Lord, ^(E)the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you ^(F)shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of ^(G)the Canaanites, among whom I live; ⁴ but you will go to ^(H)my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” ⁵ The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?” ⁶ Then Abraham said to him, “^(I)Beware that you do not take my son back there! ^7 (J)The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘^(K)To your ^[a]descendants I will give this land’—He will send ^(L)His angel ahead of you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. ⁸ But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will ^(M)be free of this oath of mine; ^(N)only do not take my son back there.” ⁹ So the servant ^(O)placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham, and swore to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰ Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and went out with a variety of ^(P)good things of his master’s in his hand; so he set out and went to ^[b]Mesopotamia, to ^(Q)the city of Nahor. ¹¹ He made the camels kneel down outside the city by ^(R)the well of water ^[c]when it was evening, ^(S)the time when women go out to draw water. ¹² And he said, “^(T)Lord, God of my master Abraham, please ^[d](U)grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³ Behold, ^(V)I am standing by the ^[e]spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; ¹⁴ now may it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and ^[f]who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’—may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”

Rebekah Is Chosen

¹⁵ And it came about, ^(W)before he had finished speaking, that behold, ^(X)Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of ^(Y)Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder. ¹⁶ The young woman was ^(Z)very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ^[g]had relations with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. ¹⁷ Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “^(AA)Please let me drink a little water from your jar.” ¹⁸ And ^(AB)she said, “Drink, my lord”; then she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ Now when she had finished giving him a drink, ^(AC)she said, “I will also draw water for your camels until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰ So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. ^21 (AD)Meanwhile, the man was taking a close look at her ^[h]in silence, to find out whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.

²² When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a ^(AE)gold ring weighing a ^[i]half-shekel, and two bracelets for her ^[j]wrists weighing ten shekels in gold, ²³ and he said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to stay overnight at your father’s house?” ²⁴ She said to him, “^(AF)I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵ Again she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to stay overnight.” ²⁶ Then the man ^(AG)bowed low and worshiped the Lord. ²⁷ And he said, “^(AH)Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned ^(AI)His kindness and His trustworthiness toward my master; as for me, ^(AJ)the Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”

²⁸ Then ^(AK)the young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things. ²⁹ Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was ^(AL)Laban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring. ³⁰ When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s ^[k]wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, “^[l]This is what the man said to me,” he went to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. ³¹ And he said, “^(AM)Come in, ^(AN)blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside, since ^(AO)I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels?” ³² So the man entered the house. Then ^[m](AP)Laban unloaded the camels, and he gave straw and feed to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ³³ But when food was set before him to eat, he said, “I will not eat until I have stated my business.” And he said, “Speak on.” ³⁴ So he said, “I am ^(AQ)Abraham’s servant. ³⁵ The Lord has greatly ^(AR)blessed my master, so that he has become ^[n]rich; and He has given him ^(AS)flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and slave women, and camels and donkeys. ³⁶ Now ^(AT)my master’s wife Sarah bore a son to my master ^[o]in her old age, and ^(AU)he has given him all that he has. ^37 (AV)My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; ³⁸ but you shall go to my father’s house and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’ ³⁹ Then ^(AW)I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’ ⁴⁰ And he said to me, ‘^(AX)The Lord, before whom I have ^(AY)walked, will send ^(AZ)His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house; ^41 (BA)then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my relatives; and if they do not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’

⁴² “So ^(BB)I came today to the spring, and said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I have been going ^(BC)successful; ⁴³ behold, ^(BD)I am standing by the ^[p]spring, and may it be that the ^[q]young unmarried woman who comes out to draw water, and to whom I say, “^(BE)Please let me drink a little water from your jar”; ⁴⁴ and she says to me, “You drink, and I will draw for your camels also”—let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’

⁴⁵ “Before I had finished ^(BF)speaking in my heart, behold, ^(BG)Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and went down to the spring and drew water, and ^(BH)I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ ⁴⁶ She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘^(BI)Drink, and I will water your camels also’; so I drank, and she watered the camels also. ^47 (BJ)Then I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him’; and I put the ^(BK)ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her ^[r]wrists. ⁴⁸ And I ^(BL)bowed low and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, ^(BM)who had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. ⁴⁹ So now if you are going to ^[s](BN)deal kindly and truthfully with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me now, so that I may turn to the right or the left.”

⁵⁰ Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “^(BO)The matter has come from the Lord; ^(BP)so we cannot speak to you bad or good. ⁵¹ Here is Rebekah before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.”

⁵² When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he ^(BQ)bowed himself to the ground ^[t]before the Lord. ⁵³ And the servant brought out ^(BR)articles of silver and articles of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. ⁵⁴ Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they got up in the morning, he said, “^(BS)Send me away to my master.” ⁵⁵ But her brother and her mother said, “^(BT)Let the young woman stay with us a few days, say ten; afterward she may go.” ⁵⁶ However, he said to them, “Do not delay me, since ^(BU)the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away so that I may go to my master.” ⁵⁷ And they said, “We will call the young woman and ^[u]ask her.” ⁵⁸ Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.” ⁵⁹ So they sent away their sister Rebekah and ^(BV)her nurse with Abraham’s servant and his men. ⁶⁰ And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,

⁶¹ Then Rebekah got up with her female attendants, and they mounted the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed.

Isaac Marries Rebekah

⁶² Now Isaac had come back from ^[w]a journey to ^(BY)Beer-lahai-roi; for he was living in ^(BZ)the ^[x]Negev. ⁶³ Isaac went out ^(CA)to ^[y]meditate in the field toward evening; and ^(CB)he raised his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming. ⁶⁴ Rebekah raised her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel. ⁶⁵ She said to the servant, “Who is that man walking in the field to meet us?” And the servant said, “He is my master.” Then she took her ^[z]veil and covered herself. ⁶⁶ The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. ⁶⁷ Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and ^(CC)he took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and ^(CD)he loved her; so Isaac was comforted after ^(CE)his mother’s death.

Abraham’s Death

25 Now Abraham took another wife, ^[aa]whose name was Keturah. ^2 (CF)She bore to him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³ Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. ⁴ The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were the sons of Keturah. ^5 (CG)Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; ⁶ but to the sons of ^[ab]his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and ^(CH)sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east.

⁷ These are ^[ac]all the years of Abraham’s life that he lived, ^(CI)175 years. ⁸ Abraham breathed his last and died ^(CJ)at a good old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was ^(CK)gathered to his people. ⁹ Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in ^(CL)the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, ^10 (CM)the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth; there Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. ¹¹ It came about after the death of Abraham, that ^(CN)God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac ^[ad]lived by ^(CO)Beer-lahai-roi.

Descendants of Ishmael

¹² Now these are the records of the generations of ^(CP)Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave woman, bore to Abraham; ¹³ and these are the names of ^(CQ)the sons of Ishmael, by their names, ^[ae]in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps; ^(CR)twelve princes according to their ^[af]tribes. ¹⁷ These are the years of the life of Ishmael, ^(CS)137 years; and he breathed his last and died, and was ^(CT)gathered to his people. ¹⁸ They ^[ag]settled from ^(CU)Havilah to ^(CV)Shur which is ^[ah]east of Egypt ^[ai]going toward Assyria; ^(CW)he ^[aj]settled in defiance of all his relatives.

Isaac’s Sons

¹⁹ Now these are the records of ^(CX)the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac; ²⁰ and Isaac was forty years old when he took ^(CY)Rebekah, the ^(CZ)daughter of Bethuel the ^[ak]Aramean of Paddan-aram, the ^(DA)sister of Laban the ^[al]Aramean, to be his wife. ²¹ Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children; and ^(DB)the Lord ^[am]answered him, and his wife Rebekah ^(DC)conceived. ²² But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why am I in this condition?” So she went to ^(DD)inquire of the Lord. ²³ And the Lord said to her,

²⁴ When her days leading to the delivery were at an end, behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵ Now the first came out red, ^(DH)all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. ²⁶ Afterward his brother came out with ^(DI)his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so ^(DJ)he was named ^[an]Jacob; and Isaac was ^(DK)sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

²⁷ When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a ^[ao]civilized man, ^(DL)living in tents. ²⁸ Now Isaac loved Esau because ^[ap]he had ^(DM)a taste for game; ^(DN)but Rebekah loved Jacob. ²⁹ When Jacob had cooked a ^(DO)stew one day, Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted; ³⁰ and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a mouthful of ^[aq]that red stuff there, for I am exhausted.” Therefore he was called ^[ar]Edom by name. ³¹ But Jacob said, “^[as]First sell me your ^(DP)birthright.” ³² Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?” ³³ And Jacob said, “^[at]First swear to me”; so he swore an oath to him, and ^(DQ)sold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and got up and went on his way. So Esau despised his birthright.

Evening Prayer of Trust in God.

^[a]For the music director; on stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

The Transfiguration

9 And Jesus was saying to them, “^(A)Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God when it has come with power.”

^2 (B)And six days later Jesus *took with Him ^(C)Peter, ^[a]James, and John, and *brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was ^[b]transfigured before them; ³ and ^(D)His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴ And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Peter responded and *said to Jesus, “^(E)Rabbi, it is good that we are here; ^(F)let’s make three ^[c]tabernacles, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For he did not know how to reply; for they became terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud ^[d]formed, overshadowing them, and ^(G)a voice ^[e]came out of the cloud: “^(H)This is My beloved Son; ^[f]listen to Him!” ⁸ And suddenly they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

^9 (I)As they were coming down from the mountain, He ^(J)gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, ^[g]until the Son of Man rose from the dead. ¹⁰ They ^[h]seized upon ^[i]that statement, discussing with one another ^[j]what rising from the dead meant. ¹¹ And they asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that ^(K)Elijah must come first?” ¹² And He said to them, “Elijah does come first and he restores all things. And yet how is it written of ^(L)the Son of Man that ^(M)He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? ¹³ But I say to you that Elijah has ^[k]indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written of him.”

All Things Possible

^14 (N)And when they came back to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵ Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were ^(O)amazed and began running up to greet Him. ¹⁶ And He asked them, “What are you disputing with them?” ¹⁷ And one person from the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, because he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; ¹⁸ and ^[l]whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes stiff. And I told Your disciples so that they would cast it out, but they could not do it.” ¹⁹ And He answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” ²⁰ And they brought ^[m]the boy to Him. When he saw Him, the spirit immediately threw him into convulsions, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. ²¹ And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²² It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” ²³ But Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ ^(P)All things are possible for the one who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” ²⁵ When Jesus saw that ^(Q)a crowd was ^[n]rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I ^[o]command you, come out of him and do not enter him ^[p]again!” ²⁶ And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him, and he got up. ²⁸ When He came ^(R)into the house, His disciples began asking Him privately, “Why is it that we could not cast it out?” ²⁹ And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything except prayer.”

Death and Resurrection Foretold

^30 (S)And from there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it. ³¹ For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “^(T)The Son of Man is to be ^[q]handed over to men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” ³² But ^(U)they ^[r]did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.

^33 (V)They came to Capernaum; and when He was in ^(W)the house, He began to question them: “What were you discussing on the way?” ³⁴ But they kept silent, for on the way ^(X)they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. ³⁵ And sitting down, He called the twelve and *said to them, “^(Y)If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶ And He took a child and placed him among them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, ³⁷ “^(Z)Whoever ^[s]receives ^[t]one child like this in My name ^[u]receives Me; and whoever ^[v]receives Me does not ^[w]receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”

Dire Warnings

^38 (AA)John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and ^(AB)we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” ³⁹ But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. ^40 (AC)For the one who is not against us is ^[x]for us. ⁴¹ For ^(AD)whoever gives you a cup of water to drink ^[y]because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.

⁴² “^(AE)Whoever causes one of these ^[z]little ones who believe in Me to ^[aa]sin, it is better for him if a heavy millstone is hung around his neck and he ^[ab]is thrown into the sea. ⁴³ And ^(AF)if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed, than, having your two hands, to go into ^[ac](AG)hell, into the ^(AH)unquenchable fire.^{[ad] 45} And if your foot is causing you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life without a foot, than, having your two feet, to be thrown into ^[ae](AI)hell.^{[af] 47} And ^(AJ)if your eye is causing you to sin, throw it away; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be thrown into ^[ag](AK)hell, ^48 (AL)where their worm does not die, and ^(AM)the fire is not extinguished. ⁴⁹ For everyone will be salted with fire. ⁵⁰ Salt is good; but ^(AN)if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you ^[ah]make it salty again? ^(AO)Have salt in yourselves, and ^(AP)be at peace with one another.”