⁸ The child [Isaac] grew and was ^[a]weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

⁹ Now [as time went on] Sarah saw [Ishmael] the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^[b]mocking [Isaac].^{(A) 10} Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.”^{(B) 11} The situation ^[c]distressed Abraham greatly because of his son [Ishmael]. ¹² God said to Abraham, “Do not let it distress you because of Ishmael and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her and do what she asks, for your descendants will be named through Isaac.^{(C) 13} And I will also make a nation of [Ishmael] the son of the maid, because he is your descendant.” ¹⁴ So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her ^[d]away. And she left [but lost her way] and wandered [aimlessly] in the Wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was all gone, Hagar abandoned the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me see the boy die.” And as she sat down opposite him, she raised her voice and wept. ¹⁷ God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from where he is [resting]. ¹⁸ Get up, help the boy up, and hold him by the hand, for I will make him a great nation.” ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the [empty] skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰ God was with Ishmael, and he grew and developed; and he lived in the wilderness and became an [expert] archer. ²¹ He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Covenant with Abimelech

²² Now at that time Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do; ²³ so now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal unfairly with me [by breaking any agreements we have] or with my son or with my descendants, but as I have treated you with kindness, you shall do the same to me and to the land in which you have sojourned (temporarily lived).” ²⁴ And Abraham said, “I will swear.” ²⁵ Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water which the servants of Abimelech had [violently] seized [from him], ²⁶ Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this thing. Indeed, you did not tell me, and I did not hear of it until today.”

²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant (binding agreement). ²⁸ Then Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock, ²⁹ and Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set apart?” ³⁰ Abraham said, “You are to accept these seven ewe lambs from me as a witness for me, that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore that place was called Beersheba (Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), because there the two of them swore an oath. ³² So they made a covenant at Beersheba; then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, got up and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord [in prayer], ^[e]the Eternal God. ³⁴ And Abraham lived [as a resident alien] in the land of the Philistines for ^[f]many days.

The Offering of Isaac

22 Now after these things, God tested [the faith and commitment of] Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” ² God said, “Take now your son, your only son [of ^[g]promise], whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of ^[h]Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” ³ So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and then he got up and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day [of travel] Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ Abraham said to his servants, “Settle down and stay here with the donkey; the ^[i]young man and I will go over there and worship [God], and we will come back to you.”^{(D) 6} Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it ^[j]on [the shoulders of] Isaac his son, and he took the ^[k]fire (firepot) in his own hand and the [sacrificial] knife; and the two of them walked on together. ⁷ And Isaac said to Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” ⁸ Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself ^[l]a lamb for the burnt offering.” So the two walked on together.

⁹ When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood, and bound Isaac his son and placed him on the altar, on top of the wood.^{(E) 10} Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to ^[m]kill his son.^{(F) 11} But the ^[n]Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He answered, “Here I am.” ¹² The Lord said, “Do not reach out [with the knife in] your hand against the boy, and do nothing to [harm] him; for now I know that you fear God [with reverence and profound respect], since you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son [of promise].” ¹³ Then Abraham looked up and glanced around, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering (ascending sacrifice) instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham named that place ^[o]The Lord Will Provide. And it is said to this day, “On the mountain of the Lord it ^[p]will be seen and provided.”

¹⁵ The ^[q]Angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time ¹⁶ and said, “By Myself (on the basis of Who I Am) I have sworn [an oath], declares the Lord, that since you have done this thing and have not withheld [from Me] your son, your only son [of promise], ¹⁷ indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies [as conquerors].^{(G) 18} Through your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have heard and obeyed My voice.”^{(H) 19} So Abraham returned to his servants, and they got up and went with him to Beersheba; and Abraham settled in Beersheba.

²⁰ Now after these things Abraham was told, “Milcah has borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹ Uz the firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram, ²² Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.” ²³ Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight [children] Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ Nahor’s ^[r]concubine, whose name was Reumah, gave birth to Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.

Death and Burial of Sarah

23 Sarah lived a hundred and twenty-seven years; this was the length of the life of Sarah. ² Sarah died in Kiriath-arba ^[s](that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. ³ Then Abraham stood up before his dead [wife’s body], and spoke to the ^[t]sons of Heth (Hittites), saying, ⁴ “I am a stranger and a sojourner (resident alien) among you; give (sell) me property for a burial place among you so that I may bury my dead [in the proper manner].” ⁵ The Hittites replied to Abraham, ⁶ “Listen to us, my lord; you are a prince of God [a mighty prince] among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our graves; none of us will refuse you his grave or hinder you from burying your dead [wife].” ⁷ So Abraham stood up and bowed to the people of the land, the Hittites. ⁸ And Abraham said to them, “If you are willing to grant my dead a [proper] burial, listen to me, and plead with Ephron the son of Zohar for me, ⁹ so that he may give (sell) me the cave of Machpelah which he owns—it is at the end of his field; let him give it to me here in your presence for the full price as a burial site [which I may keep forever among you].” ¹⁰ Now Ephron was present there among the sons of Heth; so within the hearing of all the sons of Heth and all who were entering the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham, saying, ¹¹ “No, my lord, hear me; I ^[u]give you the [entire] field, and I also give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the men of my people I give (sell) it to you; bury your dead [there].” ¹² Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. ¹³ He said to Ephron in the presence of the people of the land, “If you will only please listen to me and accept my offer. 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, ¹⁵ “My lord, listen to me. The land [you seek] is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that between you and me? So bury your dead.” ¹⁶ So Abraham listened to Ephron [and agreed to his terms]; and he weighed out for Ephron the [amount of] silver which he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred 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 around it—were deeded over [legally] ¹⁸ to Abraham as his possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who were entering at the gate of his city. ¹⁹ After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of ^[v]Machpelah to the east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰ The field and the cave in it were deeded over to Abraham by the Hittites as a [permanent] possession and burial place.

³² Terah lived two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.

A Bride for Isaac

24 Now Abraham was old, [well] advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. ² Abraham said to his servant [Eliezer of Damascus], the oldest of his household, who had charge over all that Abraham owned, “Please, put your hand under my thigh [as is customary for affirming a solemn oath],^{(A) 3} and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, ⁴ but you will [instead] go to my [former] country (Mesopotamia) and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac [the heir of the covenant promise].” ⁵ The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman will not be willing to follow me back to this country; should I take your son back 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 descendants I will give this land’—He will send His angel before you [to guide you], and you will take a wife from there for my son [and bring her here]. ⁸ If the woman is not willing to follow you [to this land], then you will be free from this my oath and blameless; only you must never 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 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels, and set out, taking some of his master’s good things with him; so he got up and journeyed to ^[a]Mesopotamia [between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers], to the city of Nahor [the home of Abraham’s brother]. ¹¹ He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the 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, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness (faithfulness) to my master Abraham. ¹³ Behold, I stand here at the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; ¹⁴ now let it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please, let down your jar so that I may [have a] drink,’ and she replies, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels water to drink’—may she be the one whom You have selected [as a wife] for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness (faithfulness) to my master.”

Rebekah Is Chosen

¹⁵ Before Eliezer had finished speaking (praying), Rebekah came out with her [water] jar on her shoulder. Rebekah was the daughter of Bethuel the ^[b]son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. ¹⁶ The girl was very beautiful, a virgin and unmarried; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. ¹⁷ Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar.” ¹⁸ And she said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ When she had given Eliezer a drink, 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 again to the well and drew water for all his camels. ²¹ Meanwhile, the man stood gazing at Rebekah in [reverent] silence, [waiting] to know if the Lord had made his trip successful or not.

²² When the camels had finished drinking, Eliezer took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel and two bracelets for her hands weighing ten shekels in gold, ²³ and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?” ²⁴ And she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to [her husband] Nahor.” ²⁵ Again she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and also room to lodge.” ²⁶ The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord. ²⁷ He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not denied His lovingkindness and His truth to my master. As for me, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brothers.”

²⁸ Then the girl ran and told 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 When he saw the 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 Eliezer and found him standing by the camels at the spring. ³¹ And Laban said, “Come in, blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside since I have made the house ready and have prepared a place for the camels?” ³² So the man came into the house, and Laban unloaded his camels and gave them straw and feed, and [he gave] water to [Eliezer to] wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ³³ But when food was set before him, he said, “I will not eat until I have stated my business.” And Laban said, “Speak on.” ³⁴ So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. ³⁵ The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great (wealthy, powerful); He has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and maids, and camels and donkeys. ³⁶ Now Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was in her old age, and he has given everything that he has to him. ³⁷ My master made me swear [an oath], saying, ‘You must not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; ³⁸ but you shall [instead] go to my father’s house and to my family and take a wife for my son [Isaac].’ ³⁹ Then I said to my master, ‘But suppose the woman will not follow me [back to this land].’ ⁴⁰ He said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I walk [habitually and obediently], will send 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 then you will be free of my oath, when you come to my relatives; and if they do not give her to you, you will [also] be free of my oath.’

⁴² “I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O Lord, God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I go successful; ⁴³ please look, I am standing by the spring of water; now let it be that when the maiden [whom You have chosen for Isaac] comes out to draw [water], and to whom I say, “Please, give me a little water to drink from your jar”; ⁴⁴ and if she says to me, “You drink, and I will also draw [water] for your camels”; let that woman be the one whom the Lord has selected and chosen [as a wife] for my master’s son.’

⁴⁵ “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 spring and drew water. And I said to her, ‘Please, let me have a drink.’ ⁴⁶ And she quickly let down her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels’; so I drank, and she also watered the camels. ⁴⁷ Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him’; and I ^[c]put the ring in her nose, 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 the daughter of my master’s brother to his son [as a wife]. ⁴⁹ So now if you are going to show kindness and truth to my master [being faithful to him], tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right or to the left [and go on my way].”

⁵⁰ Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The matter has come from the Lord; so we dare not speak bad or good [to you about it—we cannot interfere]. ⁵¹ Rebekah is 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 bowed himself to the ground [in worship] before the Lord. ⁵³ Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and articles of clothing, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and her mother. ⁵⁴ Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night [there]. In the morning when they got up, he said, “Now send me back 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 Eliezer said to them, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away, so that I may go back to my master.” ⁵⁷ And they said, “We will call the girl and ask her ^[d]what she prefers.” ⁵⁸ So they called Rebekah and said, “Will you go with this man?” And she answered, “I will go.” ⁵⁹ So they sent off their sister Rebekah and her nurse [Deborah, as her attendant] and Abraham’s servant [Eliezer] and his men. ⁶⁰ They blessed Rebekah and said to her,

⁶¹ Then Rebekah and her attendants ^[e]stood, and they mounted camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and went on his way.

Isaac Marries Rebekah

⁶² Now Isaac had returned from going to Beer-lahai-roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me), for he was living in the ^[f]Negev.^{(B) 63} Isaac went out to bow down [in prayer] in the field in the [early] evening; he raised his eyes and looked, and camels were coming. ⁶⁴ Rebekah also raised her eyes and looked, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from her camel. ⁶⁵ She said to the servant, “Who is that man there walking across the field to meet us?” And the servant said, “He is my master [Isaac].” So she took a veil and covered herself [as was customary]. ⁶⁶ The servant told Isaac everything that he had done. ⁶⁷ Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah [in marriage], and she became his wife, and he loved her; therefore Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.