Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

In Praise of the Lord's Goodness

¹¹ When he arrived, he made the camels kneel down at the well outside the city. It was late afternoon, the time when women came out to get water. ¹² He prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, give me success today and keep your promise to my master. ¹³ Here I am at the well where the young women of the city will be coming to get water. ¹⁴ I will say to one of them, ‘Please, lower your jar and let me have a drink.’ If she says, ‘Drink, and I will also bring water for your camels,’ may she be the one that you have chosen for your servant Isaac. If this happens, I will know that you have kept your promise to my master.”

¹⁵ Before he had finished praying, Rebecca arrived with a water jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham's brother Nahor and his wife Milcah. ¹⁶ She was a very beautiful young woman and still a virgin. She went down to the well, filled her jar, and came back. ¹⁷ The servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a drink of water from your jar.”

¹⁸ She said, “Drink, sir,” and quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and held it while he drank. ¹⁹ When he had finished, she said, “I will also bring water for your camels and let them have all they want.” ²⁰ She quickly emptied her jar into the animals' drinking trough and ran to the well to get more water, until she had watered all his camels. ²¹ The man kept watching her in silence, to see if the Lord had given him success.

²² When she had finished, the man took an expensive gold ring and put it in her nose and put two large gold bracelets on her arms. ²³ He said, “Please tell me who your father is. Is there room in his house for my men and me to spend the night?”

²⁴ “My father is Bethuel son of Nahor and Milcah,” she answered. ²⁵ “There is plenty of straw and fodder at our house, and there is a place for you to stay.”

²⁶ Then the man knelt down and worshiped the Lord. ²⁷ He said, “Praise the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has faithfully kept his promise to my master. The Lord has led me straight to my master's relatives.”

⁹ Do not add any widow to the list of widows unless she is over sixty years of age. In addition, she must have been married only once^{[a] 10} and have a reputation for good deeds: a woman who brought up her children well, received strangers in her home, performed humble duties for other Christians, helped people in trouble, and devoted herself to doing good.

¹¹ But do not include younger widows in the list; because when their desires make them want to marry, they turn away from Christ, ¹² and so become guilty of breaking their earlier promise to him. ¹³ They also learn to waste their time in going around from house to house; but even worse, they learn to be gossips and busybodies, talking of things they should not. ¹⁴ So I would prefer that the younger widows get married, have children, and take care of their homes, so as to give our enemies no chance of speaking evil of us. ¹⁵ For some widows have already turned away to follow Satan. ¹⁶ But if any Christian woman has widows in her family, she must take care of them and not put the burden on the church, so that it may take care of the widows who are all alone.