January 7
Genesis 22:1 — 24:49
January 7
Genesis
22:1 —
24:49
22
Now
after these things it came about that the [true] God put Abraham to the test.
Accordingly he said to him: “Abraham!” to which he said: “Here I am!”
2 And he
went on to say: “Take, please, your son, your only son whom you so love, Isaac,
and make a trip to the land of Moriah
and there offer him up as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall
designate to you.”
3 So
Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his ass and took two of his
attendants with him and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt
offering. Then he rose and went on the trip to the place that the [true] God
designated to him.
4 It was
first on the third day that Abraham raised his eyes and began to see the place
from a distance.
5 Abraham
now said to his attendants: “YOU stay here with the ass, but I and the boy want
to go on over there and worship and return to YOU.”
6 After
that Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and put it upon Isaac his son
and took in his hands the fire and the slaughtering knife, and both of them went
on together.
7 And
Isaac began to say to Abraham his father: “My father!” In turn he said: “Here I
am, my son!” So he continued: “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the
sheep for the burnt offering?”
8 To
this Abraham said: “God will provide himself the sheep for the burnt offering,
my son.” And both of them walked on together.
9 Finally
they reached the place that the [true] God had designated to him, and Abraham
built an altar there and set the wood in order and bound Isaac his son hand and
foot and put him upon the altar on top of the wood.
10 Then
Abraham put out his hand and took the slaughtering knife to kill his son.
11 But
Jehovah’s angel began calling to him out of the heavens and saying: “Abraham,
Abraham!” to which he answered: “Here I am!”
12 And
he went on to say: “Do not put out your hand against the boy and do not do
anything at all to him, for now I do know that you are God-fearing in that you
have not withheld your son, your only one, from me.”
13 At
that Abraham raised his eyes and looked and there, deep in the foreground, there
was a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So Abraham went and took the ram and
offered it up for a burnt offering in place of his son.
14 And
Abraham began to call the name of that place Jehovah-jireh.
This is why it is customarily said today: “In the mountain of Jehovah it will be
provided.”
15 And
Jehovah’s angel proceeded to call to Abraham the second time out of the heavens
16 and
to say: “‘By myself I do swear,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘that by reason of
the fact that you have done this thing and you have not withheld your son, your
only one,
17 I
shall surely bless you and I shall surely multiply your seed like the stars of
the heavens and like the grains of sand that are on the seashore; and your seed
will take possession of the gate of his enemies.
18 And
by means of your seed all nations of the earth will certainly bless themselves
due to the fact that you have listened to my voice.’”
19 After
that Abraham returned to his attendants, and they got up and went their way
together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham continued to dwell at Beer-sheba.
20 Now
it came about after these things that the report got through to Abraham: “Here
Milcah herself has also borne sons to Nahor your brother:
21 Uz
his firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel
the father of Aram,
22 and
Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.”
23 And
Bethuel
became the father of Rebekah.
These eight Milcah bore to Nahor the brother of Abraham.
24 There
was his concubine too, whose name was Reumah. In time she herself also gave
birth to Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.
23
And Sarah’s life got to be a hundred and twenty-seven years long. They were the
years of Sarah’s life.
2 So
Sarah died in Kiriath-arba,
that is to say, Hebron, in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came in to bewail
Sarah and to weep over her.
3 Then
Abraham got up from before his dead and proceeded to speak to the sons of Heth,
saying:
4 “An
alien resident and settler I am among YOU. Give me the possession of a burial
place among YOU that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”
5 At
this the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him:
6 “Hear
us, my lord. A chieftain of God you are in the midst of us. In the choicest of
our burial places bury your dead. None of us will hold back his burial place
from you to prevent burying your dead.”
7 Thereupon
Abraham got up and bowed down to the natives, to the sons of Heth,
8 and
spoke with them, saying: “If YOUR souls agree to bury my dead out of my sight,
listen to me and urge Ephron the son of Zohar for me,
9 that
he may give me the cave of Machpelah,
which is his, which is at the extremity of his field. For the full amount of
silver let him give it to me in the midst of YOU for the possession of a burial
place.”
10 As it
was, Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. So Ephron the Hittite
answered Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth with all those entering the
gate of his city, saying:
11 “No,
my lord! Listen to me. The field I do give to you, and the cave that is in it to
you I do give it. Before the eyes of the sons of my people I do give it to you.
Bury your dead.”
12 At
that Abraham bowed down before the natives
13 and
spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the natives, saying: “Only if you—no, listen
to me! I will give you the amount of silver for the field. Take it from me, that
I may bury my dead there.”
14 Then
Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him:
15 “My
lord, listen to me. A land plot worth four hundred silver shekels, what is that
between me and you? So bury your dead.”
16 Accordingly
Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the amount of
silver that he had spoken in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred
silver shekels current with the merchants.
17 Thus
the field of Ephron that was in Machpelah,
which is in front of Mamre, the field and the cave that was in it and all the
trees that were in the field, which were within all its boundaries round about,
became confirmed
18 to
Abraham as his purchased property before the eyes of the sons of Heth among all
those entering the gate of his city.
19 And
after that Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah
in front of Mamre, that is to say, Hebron, in the land of Canaan.
20 Thus
the field and the cave that was in it became confirmed to Abraham for the
possession of a burial place at the hands of the sons of Heth.
24
Now Abraham
was old, advanced in years; and Jehovah had blessed Abraham in everything.
2 Hence
Abraham said to his servant, the oldest one of his household, who was managing
all he had: “Put your hand, please, under my thigh,
3 as
I must have you swear by Jehovah, the God of the heavens and the God of the
earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites
in among whom I am dwelling,
4 but
you will go to my country and to my relatives, and you will certainly take a
wife for my son, for Isaac.”
5 However,
the servant said to him: “What if the woman does not wish to come with me to
this land? Must I be sure to return your son to the land from where you went
out?”
6 At
this Abraham said to him: “Be on your guard that you do not return my son there.
7 Jehovah
the God of the heavens, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of
my relatives and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your seed I am
going to give this land,’ he will send his angel ahead of you, and you will
certainly take a wife for my son from there.
8 But
if the woman should not wish to come with you, you also will have become free
from this oath you gave me. Only you must not return my son there.”
9 With
that the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to
him concerning this matter.
10 So
the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master and proceeded to go
with every sort of good thing of his master’s in his hand. Then he rose and got
on his way to Mesopotamia
to the city of Nahor.
11 Eventually
he had the camels kneel down outside the city at a well of water about evening
time, about the time that the women who draw water were accustomed to go out.
12 And
he went on to say: “Jehovah the God of my master Abraham, cause it to happen,
please, before me this day and perform loving-kindness with my master Abraham.
13 Here
I am stationed at a fountain of water, and the daughters of the men of the city
are coming out to draw water.
14 What
must occur is that the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Let your water jar
down, please, that I may take a drink,’ and who will indeed say, ‘Take a drink,
and I shall also water your camels,’ this is the one you must assign to your
servant, to Isaac; and by this let me know that you have performed loyal love
with my master.”
15 Well,
it came about that before he had finished speaking, why, here coming out was Rebekah,
who had been born to Bethuel
the son of Milcah the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, and her water jar was
upon her shoulder.
16 Now
the young woman was very attractive in appearance, a virgin, and no man had had
sexual intercourse with her; and she made her way down to the fountain and began
to fill her water jar and then came up.
17 At
once the servant ran to meet her and said: “Give me, please, a little sip of
water from your jar.”
18 In
turn she said: “Drink, my lord.” With that she quickly lowered her jar upon her
hand and gave him a drink.
19 When
she was finished giving him a drink, then she said: “For your camels too I shall
draw water until they are done drinking.”
20 So
she quickly emptied her jar into the drinking trough and ran yet again and again
to the well to draw water, and kept drawing for all his camels.
21 All
the while the man was gazing at her in wonder, keeping silent to know whether
Jehovah had made his trip successful or not.
22 Consequently
it came about that, when the camels had finished drinking, then the man took a
gold nose ring of a half shekel in weight and two bracelets for her hands, ten
shekels of gold was their weight,
23 and
he went on to say: “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please. Is there any room
at the house of your father for us to spend the night?”
24 At
that she said to him: “I am the daughter of Bethuel
the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”
25 And
she said further to him: “There is both straw and much fodder with us, also a
place to spend the night.”
26 And
the man proceeded to bow down and prostrate himself before Jehovah
27 and
say: “Blessed be Jehovah the God of my master Abraham, who has not left his
loving-kindness and his trustworthiness toward my master. I being on the way,
Jehovah has led me to the house of the brothers of my master.”
28 And
the young woman went running and telling the household of her mother about these
things.
29 Now
Rebekah
had a brother and his name was Laban. So Laban went running to the man who was
outside at the fountain.
30 And
it came about that on seeing the nose ring and the bracelets on the hands of his
sister and on hearing the words of Rebekah
his sister, saying: “This is the way the man spoke to me,” then he came to the
man and there he was, standing by the camels at the fountain.
31 At
once he said: “Come, you blessed one of Jehovah. Why do you keep standing out
here, when I myself have made the house ready and room for the camels?”
32 With
that the man came on into the house, and he went unharnessing the camels and
giving straw and fodder to the camels and water to wash his feet and the feet of
the men who were with him.
33 Then
something to eat was set before him, but he said: “I shall not eat until I have
spoken about my matters.” Hence he said: “Speak!”
34 Then
he went on to say: “I am Abraham’s servant.
35 And
Jehovah has blessed my master very much in that he goes on making him greater
and giving him sheep and cattle and silver and gold and menservants and
maidservants and camels and asses.
36 Further,
Sarah the wife of my master bore a son to my master after her growing old; and
he will give him everything he has.
37 So
my master made me swear, saying, ‘You must not take a wife for my son from the
daughters of the Canaanites
in whose land I am dwelling.
38 No,
but you will go to the house of my father and to my family and you must take a
wife for my son.’
39 But I
said to my master, ‘What if the woman will not come with me?’
40 Then
he said to me, ‘Jehovah, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you
and will certainly give success to your way; and you must take a wife for my son
from my family and from the house of my father.
41 At
that time you will be cleared of obligation to me by oath when you get to my
family, and if they will not give her to you, then you shall become free of
obligation to me by oath.’
42 “When
I got to the fountain today, then I said, ‘Jehovah the God of my master Abraham,
if you are really giving success to my way on which I am going,
43 here
I am stationed at a fountain of water. What must occur is that the maiden coming
out to draw water to whom I shall actually say: “Please, let me drink a little
water from your jar,”
44 and
who will indeed say to me: “Both you take a drink, and I shall also draw water
for your camels,” she is the woman whom Jehovah has assigned for the son of my
master.’
45 “Before
I was finished speaking in my heart, why, there was Rebekah
coming out, with her jar upon her shoulder; and she made her way down to the
fountain and began to draw water. Then I said to her, ‘Give me a drink, please.’
46 So
she quickly lowered her jar from off her and said, ‘Take a drink, and I shall
also water your camels.’ Then I took a drink, and she also watered the camels.
47 After
that I asked her and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ to which she said, ‘The
daughter of Bethuel
the son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ Accordingly I put the nose ring on
her nostril and the bracelets on her hands.
48 And I
proceeded to bow down and prostrate myself before Jehovah and bless Jehovah the
God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the true way to take the daughter of
the brother of my master for his son.
49 And
now if YOU are actually exercising loving-kindness and trustworthiness toward my
master, tell me; but if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to
the left.”