Study Desk

Now ^(C1)Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the LORD had ^(C2)blessed Abraham in every way.

Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household who was in ^(C1)charge of all that he owned, "^(C2)Please place your hand under my thigh,

and I will make you swear by the LORD, ^(C1)the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you ^(C2)shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of ^(C3)the Canaanites, among whom I live;

but you will go to ^(C1)my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac."

The servant said to him, "Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?"

Then Abraham said to him, "^(C1)Beware that you do not take my son back there!

"^(C1)The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, '^(C2)To your ^(F1)descendants I will give this land'—He will send ^(C3)His angel ahead of you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.

"But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will ^(C1)be free of this oath of mine; ^(C2)only do not take my son back there."

So the servant ^(C1)placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham, and swore to him concerning this matter.

Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and went out with a variety of ^(C1)good things of his master's in his hand; so he set out and went to ^(F1)Mesopotamia, to ^(C2)the city of Nahor.

He made the camels kneel down outside the city by ^(C1)the well of water ^(F1)when it was evening, ^(C2)the time when women go out to draw water.

And he said, "^(C1)LORD, God of my master Abraham, please ^(F1)(C2)grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

"Behold, ^(C1)I am standing by the ^(F1)spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water;

now may it be that the young woman to whom I say, 'Please let down your jar so that I may drink,' and ^(F1)who answers, 'Drink, and I will water your camels also'—may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master."

And it came about, ^(C1)before he had finished speaking, that behold, ^(C2)Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of ^(C3)Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder.

The young woman was ^(C1)very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ^(F1)had relations with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up.

Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, "^(C1)Please let me drink a little water from your jar."

And ^(C1)she said, "Drink, my lord"; then she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink.

Now when she had finished giving him a drink, ^(C1)she said, "I will also draw water for your camels until they have finished drinking."

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

^(C1)Meanwhile, the man was taking a close look at her ^(F1)in silence, to find out whether the LORD had made his journey successful or not.

When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a ^(C1)gold ring weighing a ^(F1)half-shekel, and two bracelets for her ^(F2)wrists weighing ten shekels in gold,

and he said, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to stay overnight at your father's house?"

She said to him, "^(C1)I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah's son, whom she bore to Nahor."

Again she said to him, "We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to stay overnight."

Then the man ^(C1)bowed low and worshiped the LORD.