Genesis 24:1-27 ▼

1 Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and Yahweh had blessed Abraham in every way.

2 And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who ruled over all that he owned, “Please place your hand under my thigh,

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

4 but you will go to my land and to my kin, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

5 And the servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I indeed take your son back to the land from where you came?”

6 Then Abraham said to him, “Beware lest you take my son back there!

7 Yahweh, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kin, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your seed I will give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.

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

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

10 Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and he went with all kinds of good things of his master’s in his hand. So he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.

11 And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at evening time, the time when the women go out to draw water.

12 And he said, “O Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please cause this to happen before me today, and show lovingkindness 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 now may it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will give water to your camels to drink also’—may she be the one whom You have decided for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.”

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

16 Now the young woman was very beautiful in appearance, a virgin, and no man had known her; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.

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

18 And she said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand and gave him a drink.

19 Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.”

20 So she hurried and emptied her jar into the watering channel and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.

21 Meanwhile, the man was gazing at her in silence, to know whether Yahweh had made his journey successful or not.

22 Now it happened that when the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels in gold,

23 and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there a place for us to lodge in your father’s house?”

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

25 And she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and a place to lodge in.”

26 Then the man bowed low and worshiped Yahweh.

27 And he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, Yahweh has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”