Genesis 24

¹Now Abraham was old , well advanced in years . And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.

²And Abraham said to his servant , the oldest of his household , who had charge of all that he had, Put your hand under my thigh ,

³that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth , that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites , among whom I dwell ,

⁴but will go to my country and to my kindred , and take a wife for my son Isaac .

⁵The servant said to him, Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land . Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came ?

⁶Abraham said to him, See to it that you do not take my son back there .

⁷The Lord, the God of heaven , who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred , and who spoke to me and swore to me, 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.

⁸But if the woman is not willing to follow you , then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there .

⁹So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter .

¹⁰Then 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 Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor .

¹¹And 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.

¹²And he said , O Lord, God of my master Abraham , please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham .

¹³Behold , I am standing by the spring of water , and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water .

¹⁴Let the young woman to whom I shall say , Please 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 you have appointed for your servant Isaac . By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master .

¹⁵Before he had finished speaking , behold , Rebekah , who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah , the wife of Nahor , Abraham’s brother , came out with her water jar on her shoulder .

¹⁶The young woman was very attractive in appearance , a maiden whom no man had known . She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up .

¹⁷Then the servant ran to meet her and said , Please give me a little water to drink from your jar .

¹⁸She said , Drink , my lord . And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink .

¹⁹When she had finished giving him a drink , she said , I will draw water for your camels also , until they have finished drinking .

²⁰So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels .

²¹The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not.

²²When the camels had finished drinking , the man took a gold ring weighing a half shekel , and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels ,

²³and said , Please tell me whose daughter you are . Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night ?

²⁴She said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah , whom she bore to Nahor .

²⁵She added , We have plenty of both straw and fodder , and room to spend the night .

²⁶The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord

²⁷and 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 .

²⁸Then the young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things .

²⁹Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban . Laban ran out toward the man , to the spring .

³⁰As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms , and 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 .

³¹He 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 .

³²So the man came to the house and unharnessed the camels , and gave straw and fodder to the camels , and there was water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

³³Then food was set before him to eat . But he said , I will not eat until I have said what I have to say . He said , Speak on .

³⁴So he said , I am Abraham’s servant .

³⁵The Lord has greatly blessed my master , and he has become great . He has given him flocks and herds , silver and gold , male servants and female servants , camels and donkeys .

³⁶And 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.

³⁷My 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 ,

³⁸but you shall go to my father’s house and to my clan and take a wife for my son .

³⁹I said to my master , Perhaps the woman will not follow me .

⁴⁰But he said to me, The Lord, before whom I have walked , will send his angel with you and prosper your way . You shall take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father’s house .

⁴¹Then you will be free from my oath , when you come to my clan . And if they will not give her to you, you will be free from my oath .

⁴²I came today to the spring and said , O Lord, the God of my master Abraham , if now you are prospering the way that I go ,

⁴³behold , I am standing by the spring of water . Let the virgin who comes out to draw water , to whom I shall say , Please give me a little water from your jar to drink ,

⁴⁴and 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 .

⁴⁵Before I had finished speaking in my heart , behold, Rebekah came out with her water jar on her shoulder , and she went down to the spring and drew water . I said to her, Please let me drink .

⁴⁶She 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 .

⁴⁷Then I asked her, Whose daughter are you? She said , The daughter of Bethuel , Nahor’s son , whom Milcah bore to him. So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her arms .

⁴⁸Then 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 .

⁴⁹Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master , tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left .

⁵⁰Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said , The thing has come from the Lord; we cannot speak to you bad or good .

⁵¹Behold , Rebekah is before you ; take her and go , and let her be the wife of your master’s son , as the Lord has spoken .

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

⁵³And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold , and garments , and gave them to Rebekah . He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments .

⁵⁴And he and the men who were with him ate and drank , and they spent the night there. When they arose in the morning , he said , Send me away to my master .

⁵⁵Her brother and her mother said , Let the young woman remain with us a while , at least ten days; after that she may go .

⁵⁶But he said to them, Do not delay me , since the Lord has prospered my way . Send me away that I may go to my master .

⁵⁷They said , Let us call the young woman and ask her.

⁵⁸And they called Rebekah and said to her, Will you go with this man ? She said , I will go .

⁵⁹So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse , and Abraham’s servant and his men .

⁶⁰And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, Our sister , may you become thousands of ten thousands , and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him!

⁶¹Then Rebekah and her young women arose and rode on the camels and followed the man . Thus the servant took Rebekah and went his way .

⁶²Now Isaac had returned from Beer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the Negeb .

⁶³And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening . And he lifted up his eyes and saw , and behold , there were camels coming .

⁶⁴And Rebekah lifted up her eyes , and when she saw Isaac , she dismounted from the camel

⁶⁵and said to the servant , Who is that man , walking in the field to meet us ? The servant said , It is my master . So she took her veil and covered herself .

⁶⁶And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done .

⁶⁷Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah , and she became his wife , and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.