Beginning

God Tests Abraham

22 And it happened that after these things, God tested Abraham. And he said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ² And he said, “Take your son, your only child, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains where^[a] I will tell you.” ³ And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. And he took two of his servants with him, and Isaac his son. And he chopped wood for a burnt offering. And he got up and went to the place which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he saw the place at a distance. ⁵ And Abraham said to his servants, “You stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go up there. We will worship, then we will return to you.” ⁶ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and placed it on Isaac his son. And he took the fire in his hand and the knife, and the two of them went together. ⁷ And Isaac said to Abraham his father, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ⁸ And Abraham said, “God will provide^[b] the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went together.

⁹ And they came to the place that God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood. Then he bound Isaac his son and placed him on the altar atop the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. ¹¹ And the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹² And he said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the boy; do not do anything to him. For now I know that you are one who fears^[c] God, since you have not withheld your son, your only child, from me.” ¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, a ram was caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of that place “Yahweh will provide,”^[d] for which reason^[e] it is said today, “on the mountain of Yahweh it shall be provided.”^{[f] 15} And the angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from heaven. ¹⁶ And he said, “I swear by myself, declares Yahweh, that because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only child, ¹⁷ that I will certainly bless you and greatly multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the shore of the sea. And your offspring will take possession of the gate of his enemies. ¹⁸ All the nations of the earth will be blessed through your offspring, because you have listened to my voice.” ¹⁹ And Abraham returned to his servants, and they got up and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived in Beersheba.

²⁰ And it happened that after these things, it was told to Abraham, “Look, Milcah has also borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹ Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, ²² and Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ (Now, Bethuel fathered Rebekah). These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, the brother of Abraham. ²⁴ And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Sarah’s Death and Burial

23 And Sarah lived^[g] one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. ² And Sarah died in Kiriath Arba; that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. ³ And Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. And Abraham rose up from his dead, and he spoke to the Hittites^[h] and said, ⁴ “I am a stranger and an alien among you; give to me my own burial site^[i] among you so that I may bury my dead from before me.” ⁵ And the Hittites^[j] answered Abraham and said to him, ⁶ “Hear us, my lord, you are a mighty prince^[k] in our midst. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial sites. None of us will withhold his burial site^[l] from you for burying your dead.” ⁷ And Abraham rose up and bowed to the people of the land, to the Hittites.^{[m] 8} And he spoke with them, saying, “If you are willing^[n] that I bury my dead from before me, hear me and intercede for me with Ephron the son of Zohar, ⁹ that he may sell^[o] to me the cave of Machpelah which belongs to him,^[p] which is at the end of his field. At full value let him sell^[q] it to me in your midst as a burial site.”^{[r] 10} Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites.^[s] And Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites^[t] with respect to all who were entering the gate of his city, and said, ¹¹ “No, my lord, hear me. I give you the field and the cave which is in it, I also give it to you in the sight of the children of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.” ¹² And Abraham bowed before the people of the land. ¹³ And he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If only you will hear me^[u]—I give the price of the field. Take it from me that I may bury my dead there.” ¹⁴ And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, ¹⁵ “My lord, hear me. A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between me and you? Bury your dead.” ¹⁶ Then Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed for Ephron the silver that he had named^[v] in the hearing of the Hittites:^[w] four hundred shekels of silver at the merchants’ current rate.^{[x] 17} So the field of Ephron which was in the Machpelah, which was near Mamre—the field and the cave which was in it, with all the trees that were in the field, which were within all its surrounding boundaries—passed^{[y] 18} to Abraham as a property in the presence of the Hittites,^[z] with respect to all who were entering the gate of his city. ¹⁹ And thus afterward Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah near Mamre; that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. ²⁰ And the field and the cave which was in it passed^[aa] to Abraham as a burial site^[ab] from the Hittites.^[ac]

Isaac and Rebekah

24 Now Abraham was old, advanced in age,^[ad] and Yahweh had blessed Abraham in everything. ² And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh ³ that I may make you swear by Yahweh, 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 in whose midst I am dwelling, ⁴ but that you will go to my land and to my family, and take a wife for my son, for Isaac.” ⁵ And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow^[ae] me to this land—must I then return your son to the land from whence you came?” ⁶ Abraham said to him, “You must take care^[af] that you do not return my son there. ⁷ Yahweh, the God of heaven who took me from the house of my father and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘to your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. ⁸ And if the woman is not willing to follow^[ag] you, then you shall be released from this oath of mine—only you must not return my son there.” ⁹ Then the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and he swore to him concerning this matter. ¹⁰ And the servant took ten camels from his master’s camels, and he went with all kinds of his master’s good things in his hand. And he arose and went to Aram-Naharaim, to the city of Nahor. ¹¹ And he made the camels kneel outside the city at the well of water, at the time of evening, toward the time the women went out to draw water. ¹² And he said, “O Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show loyal love to my master Abraham. ¹³ Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are going out to draw water. ¹⁴ And let it be that the girl to whom I shall say, ‘Please, offer your jar that I may drink’ and who says, ‘Drink—and I will also water your camels,’ she is the one you have chosen for your servant, for Isaac. By her I will know that you have shown loyal love to my master.” ¹⁵ And it happened that before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah—who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, the brother of Abraham—came out, and her jar was on her shoulder. ¹⁶ Now the girl was very pleasing in appearance. She was a virgin; no man had known her. And she went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. ¹⁷ And the servant ran to meet her. And he said, “Please, let me drink a little of the water from your jar.” ¹⁸ And she said, “Drink, my lord.” And she quickly lowered her jar in her hand and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ When^[ah] she finished giving him a drink she said, “I will also draw water for your camels until they finish drinking.” ²⁰ And she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water. And she drew water for all his camels. ²¹ And the man was gazing at her silently to know if Yahweh had made his journey successful or not. ²² And it happened that as the camels finished drinking the man took a gold ring of a half shekel in weight and two bracelets for her arms, ten shekels in weight, ²³ and said, “Please tell me, whose daughter are you? Is there a place at the house of your father for us to spend the night?” ²⁴ And she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵ Then she said to him, “We have both straw and fodder in abundance, as well as a place to spend the night.” ²⁶ And the man knelt down and worshiped Yahweh. ²⁷ And he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld^[ai] his loyal love and his faithfulness from my master. I was on the way and Yahweh led me to the house of my master’s brother.” ²⁸ Then the girl ran and reported these things to the household of her mother.

²⁹ Now Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. And Laban ran out to the man toward the spring. ³⁰ And when he saw the ring and the bracelets on the arms of his sister and heard the words of Rebekah his sister, who said, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man. And behold, he was standing with the camels at the spring. ³¹ And he said, “Come, O blessed one of Yahweh. Why do you stand outside? Now I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” ³² And the man came to the house and unloaded the camels. And he gave straw and fodder to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ³³ And food was placed before him^[aj] to eat. And he said, “I will not eat until I have told my errand.”^[ak] And he said, “Speak.” ³⁴ And he said, “I am the servant of Abraham. ³⁵ Now Yahweh has blessed my master exceedingly, and he has become great. He has given to him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male slaves and female slaves, and camels and donkeys. ³⁶ And Sarah, the wife of my master, has borne a son to my master after her old age. And he^[al] has given to him all that he has. ³⁷ And my master made me swear, saying, ‘Do not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I am living. ³⁸ But you shall go to the house of my father, and to my family, and you shall take a wife for my son.’ ³⁹ And I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow^[am] me.’ ⁴⁰ And he said to me, ‘Yahweh, before whom I have walked, shall send his angel with you and will make your journey successful. And you shall take a wife for my son from my family, and from the house of my father. ⁴¹ Then you shall be released from my oath, when you come to my family. And if they will not give a woman to you, then you will be released from my oath.’ ⁴² Then today I came to the spring, and I said, ‘O Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, if you would please make my journey successful,^[an] upon which I am going. ⁴³ Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. Let it be that the young woman who comes out to draw water and to whom I say, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar,” ⁴⁴ let her say to me, “Drink; I will also draw water for your camels,” she is the woman whom Yahweh has appointed for the son of my master.’ ⁴⁵ I had not yet finished speaking to myself^[ao] when, behold, Rebekah was coming out with^[ap] her jar on her shoulder. And she went down to the spring and drew water. And I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ ⁴⁶ And she hastened and let down her jar from her shoulder^[aq] and said, ‘Drink, and I will give a drink to your camels also.’ Then I drank and she gave a drink to the camels also. ⁴⁷ Then I asked her and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ And I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her arms. ⁴⁸ And I knelt down and worshiped Yahweh, and I praised Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who led me on the right way, to take the daughter of the brother of my master for his son. ⁴⁹ So now, if you are going to deal loyally and truly^[ar] with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me, so that I may turn to the right or to the left.”^{[as] 50} Then Laban and Bethuel answered, and they said, “The matter has gone out from Yahweh; we are not able to speak bad or good to you. ⁵¹ Here is Rebekah before you. Take her and go; let her be a wife for the son of your master as Yahweh has spoken.” ⁵² And it happened that when the servant of Abraham heard their words he bowed down to the ground to Yahweh. ⁵³ And the servant brought out silver jewelry and gold jewelry, and garments, and he gave them to Rebekah. And he gave precious gifts to her brother and to her mother. ⁵⁴ And he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night. And they got up in the morning, and he said, “Let me go to my master.” ⁵⁵ And her brother and her mother said, “Let the girl remain with us ten days or so; after that she may go.” ⁵⁶ And he said to them, “Do not delay me. Now, Yahweh has made my journey successful. Let me go. I must go to my master.” ⁵⁷ And they said, “Let us call the girl and ask her opinion.”^{[at] 58} And 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, and the servant of Abraham and his men. ⁶⁰ And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “You are our sister; may you become countless thousands; and may your offspring take possession of the gate of his enemies.” ⁶¹ And Rebekah and her maidservants arose, and they mounted the camels and followed^[au] the man. And the servant took Rebekah and left.

⁶² Now Isaac was coming from the direction of Beer-Lahai-Roi. And he was living in the land of the Negev. ⁶³ And Isaac went out to meditate in the field early in the evening,^[av] and he lifted up his eyes and saw—behold, camels were coming. ⁶⁴ And Rebekah lifted up her eyes and saw Isaac. And she got down from the camel. ⁶⁵ And she said to the servant, “Who is this man walking around in the field to meet us?” And the servant said, “That is my master.” And she took her^[aw] veil and covered herself. ⁶⁶ And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. ⁶⁷ And Isaac brought her to the tent of Sarah his mother. And he took Rebekah, and she became his wife. And Isaac loved her and was comforted after the death of his mother.