^7 [a]Keep on asking and it will be given you; ^[b] keep on seeking and you will find; ^[c]keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.

⁸ For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.

⁹ Or what man is there of you, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will hand him a stone?

¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will hand him a serpent?

¹¹ If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and ^[d]advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and ^[e]advantageous things to those who ^[f]keep on asking Him!

¹² So then, whatever you desire that others would do to and for you, even so do also to and for them, for this is (sums up) the Law and the Prophets.

¹³ Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it.

¹⁴ But the gate is narrow (contracted ^[g]by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it.^(A)

¹⁵ Beware of false prophets, who come to you dressed as sheep, but inside they are devouring wolves.^(B)

¹⁶ You will ^[h]fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?

¹⁷ Even so, every healthy (sound) tree bears good fruit [^[i]worthy of admiration], but the sickly (decaying, worthless) tree bears bad (worthless) fruit.

¹⁸ A good (healthy) tree cannot bear bad (worthless) fruit, nor can a bad (diseased) tree bear ^[j]excellent fruit [worthy of admiration].

¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.

²⁰ Therefore, you will ^[k]fully know them by their fruits.

²¹ Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven.

²² Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name?

²³ And then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands].^(C)

²⁴ So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a ^[l]sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock.

²⁵ And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

²⁶ And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand.

²⁷ And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great and complete was the fall of it.

²⁸ When Jesus had finished these sayings [the Sermon on the Mount], the crowds were astonished and overwhelmed with bewildered wonder at His teaching,

²⁹ For He was teaching as One Who had [and was] authority, and not as [did] the scribes.

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23 Sarah lived 127 years; this was the length of the life of Sarah.

² And Sarah died in Kiriath-arba, ^[a]that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

³ And Abraham stood up from before his dead and said to the sons of Heth,

⁴ I am a stranger and a sojourner with you; give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

⁵ And the Hittites replied to Abraham,

⁶ Listen to us, my lord; you are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in any tomb or grave of ours that you choose; none of us will withhold from you his tomb or hinder you from burying your dead.

⁷ And Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the Hittites.

⁸ And he said to them, If you are willing to grant my dead a burial out of my sight, listen to me and ask Ephron son of Zohar for me,

⁹ That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns—it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me here in your presence as a burial place to which I may hold fast among you.

¹⁰ Now Ephron was present there among the sons of Heth; so, in the hearing of all who went in at the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham, saying,

¹¹ No, my lord, hear me; I give you the field, and the cave that is in it I give 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 said to Ephron in the presence of the people of the land, But if you will give it, I beg of you, hear me. I will give you the price of the field; accept it from me, and I will bury my dead there.

¹⁴ Ephron replied to Abraham, saying,

¹⁵ My lord, listen to me. The land is worth 400 shekels of silver; what is that between you and me? So bury your dead.

¹⁶ So Abraham listened to what Ephron said and acted upon it. He weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: 400 shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.

¹⁷ So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre [Hebron]—the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field and in all its borders round about—was made over

¹⁸ As a possession to Abraham in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at his city gate.

¹⁹ After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of ^[b]Machpelah to the east of Mamre, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan.

²⁰ The field and the cave in it were conveyed to Abraham for a permanent burial place by the sons of Heth.

24 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.

² And Abraham said to the eldest servant of his house [Eliezer of Damascus], who ruled over all that he had, I beg of you, put your hand under my thigh;^(A)

³ And you shall swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I have settled,

⁴ But you shall go to my country and to my relatives and take ^[c]a wife for my son Isaac.

⁵ The servant said to him, But perhaps the woman will not be willing to come along after me to this country. Must I take your son to the country from which you came?

⁶ Abraham said to him, See to it that you do not take my son back there.

⁷ The Lord, the God of heaven, Who took me from my father’s house, from the land of my family and my birth, Who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, To your offspring I will give this land—He will send His ^[d]Angel before you, and you will take a wife from there for my son.

⁸ And if the woman should ^[e]not be willing to go along after you, then you will be clear from this oath; only you must 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.

¹⁰ And the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking some of all his master’s treasures with him; thus he journeyed to Mesopotamia [between the Tigris and the Euphrates], to the city of Nahor [Abraham’s brother].

¹¹ And he made his camels to kneel down outside the city by a well of water at the time of the evening when women go out to draw water.

¹² And he said, O Lord, God of my master Abraham, I pray You, cause me to meet with good success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

¹³ See, I stand here by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming to draw water.

¹⁴ And let it so be that the girl to whom I say, I pray you, let down your jar that I may drink, and she replies, Drink, and I will give your camels drink also—let her be the one whom You have selected and appointed and indicated for Your servant Isaac [to be a wife to him]; and by it I shall know that You have shown kindness and faithfulness to my master.

¹⁵ Before he had finished speaking, behold, out came Rebekah, who was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Nahor the brother of Abraham, with her water jar on her shoulder.

¹⁶ And the girl was very beautiful and attractive, chaste and modest, and unmarried. And she went down to the well, filled her water jar, and came up.

¹⁷ And the servant ran to meet her, and said, I pray you, let me drink a little water from your water jar.

¹⁸ And she said, Drink, my lord; and she quickly let down her jar onto her hand and gave him a drink.

¹⁹ When she had given him a drink, she said, I will draw water for your camels also, until they finish drinking.

²⁰ So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well and drew water for all his camels.

²¹ The man stood gazing at her in silence, waiting to know if the Lord had made his trip prosperous.

²² And when the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold earring or nose ring of half a shekel in weight, and for her hands two bracelets of ten shekels in weight in gold,

²³ And said, Whose daughter are you? I pray you, tell me: Is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge there?

²⁴ And she said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah and [her husband] Nahor.

²⁵ She said also to him, We have both straw and provender (fodder) enough, and also room in which to lodge.

²⁶ The man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord

²⁷ And said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, Who has not left my master bereft and destitute of His loving-kindness and steadfastness. As for me, going on the way [of obedience and faith] the Lord led me to the house of my master’s kinsmen.

²⁸ The girl related to her mother’s household what had happened.

²⁹ Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the well.

³⁰ For when he saw the earring or nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and when he heard Rebekah his sister saying, The man said this to me, he went to the man and found him standing by the camels at the well.

³¹ He cried, Come in, you blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside? For I have made the house ready and have prepared a place for the camels.

³² So the man came into the house; and [Laban] ungirded his camels and gave straw and provender for the camels and water to bathe his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

³³ A meal was set before him, but he said, ^[f]I will not eat until I have told of my errand. And [Laban] said, Speak on.

³⁴ And he said, I am Abraham’s servant.

³⁵ And the Lord has blessed my master mightily, and he has become great; and He has given him flocks, herds, silver, gold, menservants, maidservants, camels, and asses.

³⁶ And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old, and to him he has given all that he has.

³⁷ And my master made me swear, saying, You must not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell,

³⁸ But you shall go to my father’s house and to my family and take a wife for my son.

³⁹ And I said to my master, But suppose the woman will not follow me.

⁴⁰ And he said to me, The Lord, in Whose presence I walk [habitually], will send His ^[g]Angel with you and prosper your way, and you will take a wife for my son from my kindred and from my father’s house.

⁴¹ Then you shall be clear from my oath, when you come to my kindred; and if they do not give her to you, you shall be free and innocent of my oath.

⁴² I came today to the well and said, O Lord, God of my master Abraham, if You are now causing me to go on my way prosperously—

⁴³ See, I am standing by the well of water; now let it be that when the maiden comes out to draw water and I say to her, I pray you, give me a little water from your [water] jar to drink,

⁴⁴ And if she says to me, You drink, and I will draw water for your camels also, let that same woman be the one whom the Lord has selected and indicated for my master’s son.

⁴⁵ And before I had finished praying in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her [water] jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her, I pray you, let me have a drink.

⁴⁶ And she quickly let down her [water] jar from her shoulder and said, Drink, and I will water your camels also. So I drank, and she gave the camels drink also.

⁴⁷ I asked her, Whose daughter are you? She said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him. And I put the earring or nose ring on her face and the bracelets on her arms.

⁴⁸ And I bowed down my head and worshiped the Lord and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, Who had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter to his son.

⁴⁹ And now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master [showing faithfulness to him], tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right or to the left.

⁵⁰ Then Laban and Bethuel answered, The thing comes forth from the Lord; we cannot speak bad or good to you.

⁵¹ Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has said.

⁵² And when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the ground before the Lord.

⁵³ And the servant brought out jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and garments and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and her mother.

⁵⁴ Then they ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and stayed there all night. And in the morning they arose, and he said. Send me away to my master.

⁵⁵ But [Rebekah’s] brother and mother said, Let the girl stay with us a few days—at least ten; then she may go.

⁵⁶ But [the servant] said to them, Do not hinder and delay me, seeing that the Lord has caused me to go prosperously on my way. Send me away, that I may go to my master.

⁵⁷ And they said, We will call the girl and ask her [what is] her desire.

⁵⁸ So they called Rebekah and said to her, Will you go with this man? And she said, I will go.

⁵⁹ So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse [Deborah] and Abraham’s servant and his men.

⁶⁰ And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, You are our sister; may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your posterity possess the gate of their enemies.

⁶¹ And Rebekah and her maids arose and followed the man upon their camels. Thus the servant took Rebekah and went on his way.

⁶² Now Isaac had returned from going to the well Beer-lahai-roi [A well to the Living One Who sees me], for he [now] dwelt in the South country (the Negeb).

⁶³ And Isaac went out to meditate and bow down [in prayer] in the open country in the evening; and he looked up and saw that, behold, the camels were coming.

⁶⁴ And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel.

⁶⁵ For she [had] said to the servant, Who is that man walking across the field to meet us? And the servant [had] said, He is my master. So she took a veil and concealed herself with it.

⁶⁶ And the servant told Isaac everything that he had done.

⁶⁷ And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her; thus Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.