The Proverbs of Solomon

10 ^(A)The proverbs of Solomon.

Isaac and Rebekah

24 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord ^(A)had blessed Abraham in all things. ² And Abraham said to his servant, ^(B)the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, ^(C)“Put your hand under my thigh, ³ that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that ^(D)you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, ^4 (E)but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” ⁵ The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land 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, ^(F)who took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ^(G)‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ ^(H)he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. ⁸ But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then ^(I)you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.” ⁹ So the servant ^(J)put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰ Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose and went to ^(K)Mesopotamia^[a] to the city of Nahor. ¹¹ And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time when ^(L)women go out to draw water. ¹² And he said, “O Lord, ^(M)God of my master Abraham, ^(N)please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. ¹³ Behold, ^(O)I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴ Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. ^(P)By this^[b] I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”

¹⁵ Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of ^(Q)Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder. ¹⁶ The young woman ^(R)was very attractive in appearance, a maiden^[c] whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. ¹⁷ Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.” ¹⁸ She said, “Drink, my lord.” And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰ So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels. ²¹ The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not.

²² When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half shekel,^[d] and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels, ²³ and said, “Please tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?” ²⁴ She said to him, ^(S)“I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵ She added, “We have plenty of both straw and fodder, and room to spend the night.” ^26 (T)The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord ²⁷ and said, “Blessed be the Lord, ^(U)the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken ^(V)his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord ^(W)has led me in the way to the house of my master's kinsmen.” ²⁸ Then the young woman ran and told her mother's household about these things.

²⁹ Rebekah had a brother whose name was ^(X)Laban. Laban ran out toward the man, to the spring. ³⁰ As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and heard the words of Rebekah his sister, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man. And behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. ³¹ He said, “Come in, ^(Y)O blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” ³² So the man came to the house and unharnessed the camels, and gave ^(Z)straw and fodder to the camels, and there was ^(AA)water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ³³ Then food was set before him to eat. But he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.” He said, “Speak on.”

³⁴ So he said, “I am Abraham's servant. ³⁵ The Lord ^(AB)has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys. ³⁶ And Sarah my master's wife ^(AC)bore a son to my master when she was old, and ^(AD)to him he has given all that he has. ^37 (AE)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 dwell, ³⁸ but you shall go to my father's house and to my clan and take a wife for my son.’ ³⁹ I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’ ⁴⁰ But he said to me, ‘The Lord, ^(AF)before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and ^(AG)prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father's house. ⁴¹ Then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my clan. And if they will not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’

⁴² “I came today to the spring and said, ^(AH)‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now you ^(AI)are prospering the way that I go, ⁴³ behold, I am standing ^(AJ)by the spring of water. Let the virgin who comes out to draw water, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,” ^44 (AK)and who will say to me, “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 ^(AL)speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her water jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ ⁴⁶ She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels drink also. ⁴⁷ Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ ^(AM)So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her arms. ^48 (AN)Then I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord and blessed the Lord, ^(AO)the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way^[e] to take ^(AP)the daughter of my master's kinsman for his son. ⁴⁹ Now then, if you are going to ^(AQ)show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”

⁵⁰ Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing has come from the Lord; we cannot ^(AR)speak to you bad or good. ⁵¹ Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master's son, ^(AS)as the Lord has spoken.”

⁵² When Abraham's servant heard their words, ^(AT)he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord. ⁵³ And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments. ⁵⁴ And he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. When they arose in the morning, he said, ^(AU)“Send me away to my master.” ⁵⁵ Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman remain with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go.” ⁵⁶ But he said to them, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.” ⁵⁷ They said, “Let us call the young woman and ask her.” ⁵⁸ And they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.” ⁵⁹ So they sent away Rebekah their sister and ^(AV)her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men. ⁶⁰ And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,

⁶¹ Then Rebekah and her young women arose and rode on the camels and followed the man. Thus the servant took Rebekah and went his way.

⁶² Now Isaac had returned from ^(AY)Beer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the Negeb. ⁶³ And Isaac went out ^(AZ)to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming. ⁶⁴ And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel ⁶⁵ and said to the servant, “Who is that man, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. ⁶⁶ And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. ⁶⁷ Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was ^(BA)comforted after his mother's ^(BB)death.

³⁹ Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and ^(A)in their hearts they turned to Egypt, ⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ^(B)‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹ And ^(C)they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and ^(D)were rejoicing in ^(E)the works of their hands. ⁴² But ^(F)God turned away and ^(G)gave them over to worship ^(H)the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had ^(L)the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses ^(M)directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. ⁴⁵ Our fathers in turn ^(N)brought it in with Joshua when they ^(O)dispossessed the nations ^(P)that God drove out before our fathers. So it was ^(Q)until the days of David, ^46 (R)who found favor in the sight of God and ^(S)asked to find a dwelling place for ^(T)the God of Jacob.^{[a] 47} But it was ^(U)Solomon who built a house for him. ^48 (V)Yet the Most High does not dwell ^(W)in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

^51 (Z)“You stiff-necked people, ^(AA)uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. ^(AB)As your fathers did, so do you. ^52 (AC)Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of ^(AD)the Righteous One, ^(AE)whom you have now betrayed and murdered, ⁵³ you who received the law ^(AF)as delivered by angels and ^(AG)did not keep it.”

The Stoning of Stephen

⁵⁴ Now when they heard these things ^(AH)they were enraged, and they ^(AI)ground their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But he, ^(AJ)full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw ^(AK)the glory of God, and Jesus standing ^(AL)at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ And he said, “Behold, I see ^(AM)the heavens opened, and ^(AN)the Son of Man standing ^(AO)at the right hand of God.” ⁵⁷ But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together^[b] at him. ⁵⁸ Then ^(AP)they cast him out of the city and ^(AQ)stoned him. And ^(AR)the witnesses laid down their garments ^(AS)at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ And as they were stoning Stephen, ^(AT)he called out, “Lord Jesus, ^(AU)receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ And ^(AV)falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ^(AW)“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, ^(AX)he fell asleep.