Isaac and Rebekah

24 Abraham was now very old,(A) and the Lord had blessed(B) him in every way.(C) He said to the senior servant(D) in his household, the one in charge of all that he had,(E) “Put your hand under my thigh.(F) I want you to swear(G) by the Lord, the God of heaven(H) and the God of earth,(I) that you will not get a wife for my son(J) from the daughters of the Canaanites,(K) among whom I am living,(L) but will go to my country and my own relatives(M) and get a wife for my son Isaac.(N)

The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land?(O) Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?(P)

“Make sure that you do not take my son back there,”(Q) Abraham said. “The Lord, the God of heaven,(R) who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land(S) and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring[a](T) I will give this land’(U)—he will send his angel before you(V) so that you can get a wife for my son from there. If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath(W) of mine. Only do not take my son back there.”(X) So the servant put his hand under the thigh(Y) of his master(Z) Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 24:7 Or seed

24 Abraham was now a very old man, and God blessed him in every way. One day Abraham said to his household administrator, who was his oldest servant,

“Swear by Jehovah, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not let my son marry one of these local girls, these Canaanites. Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife for him there.”

“But suppose I can’t find a girl who will come so far from home?” the servant asked. “Then shall I take Isaac there, to live among your relatives?”

“No!” Abraham warned. “Be careful that you don’t do that under any circumstance. For the Lord God of heaven told me to leave that land and my people, and promised to give me and my children this land. He will send his angel on ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a girl from there to be my son’s wife. But if you don’t succeed, then you are free from this oath; but under no circumstances are you to take my son there.”

So the servant vowed[a] to follow Abraham’s instructions.

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 24:9 the servant vowed, literally, “the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him that.”