Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Thanksgiving for Recovery from Illness

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 Mesopota′mia, 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 women go out to draw water. ¹² And he said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, grant me success today, I pray thee, and show steadfast 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 coming out to draw water. ¹⁴ Let the maiden to whom I shall say, ‘Pray 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 thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac. By this I shall know that thou hast shown steadfast love to my master.”

¹⁵ Before he had done speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethu′el the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar upon her shoulder. ¹⁶ The maiden was very fair to look upon, a virgin, 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, “Pray 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 for your camels also, until they have done drinking.” ²⁰ So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw, 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 done drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels, ²³ and said, “Tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge in?” ²⁴ She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethu′el the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵ She added, “We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.” ²⁶ The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord, ²⁷ and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.”

²⁸ Then the maiden ran and told her mother’s household about these things. ²⁹ Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran out to the man, to the spring. ³⁰ When he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and when he 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, 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 into the house; and Laban ungirded the camels, and gave him straw and provender for the camels, and 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 told my errand.” He 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; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and asses. ³⁶ And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and to him he has given all that he has. ³⁷ 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 kindred, 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, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you and prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my kindred and from my father’s house; ⁴¹ then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my kindred; 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, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now thou wilt prosper the way which I go, ⁴³ behold, I am standing by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, “Pray give me a little water from your jar to drink,” ⁴⁴ 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 done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her water jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Pray 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 Bethu′el, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her arms. ⁴⁸ Then I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to take the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. ⁴⁹ Now then, if you will deal loyally and truly with 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 Bethu′el answered, “The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot 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 the Lord has spoken.”

⁵² When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord.

The Tradition of the Elders

7 Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, ² they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands,^[a] observing the tradition of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify^[b] themselves;^[c] and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.^[d]) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live^[e] according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?” ⁶ And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

⁸ You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.”

⁹ And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die’; ¹¹ but you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban’ (that is, given to God)^[f]— ¹² then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, ¹³ thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do.”