About Isaac's wife

1Abraham was now a very old man, and Yahweh had blessed him all the time.

2He said to his oldest servant, who looked after all his things, “Put your hand here between my legs.

3I want you to make a promise and not change it and say Yahweh's name. He is God, the one who made heaven and all the world. I want you to promise that you will not get a wife for Isaac from here in Canaan.

4You must get one from among my family. I want you to go back to the country where I was born and get a wife for my son Isaac from there.”

5But the servant said, “Maybe the girl won't want to come here. Shall I send your son back to that country to stay there?”

6“No,” Abraham answered. “Don't do that. You must not send my son there.

7Long ago Yahweh brought me here from my father's home and from my family. Yahweh is the God who made the heavens, and he made a promise to me. He said to me, ‘I will give this country to you and to your descendants.’ He will send his angel ahead of you, to help you get a wife there for my son.

8If the girl doesn't want to come with you, then I will free you from your promise to me. But you must not send my son back there.”

9So the servant put his hands between Abraham's legs and promised to do everything Abraham had asked.

10Then the servant took ten of Abraham's camels and loaded them with many good things of Abraham's. Then he left and went towards the north. He went on until he arrived in the country called Mesopotamia. Then he went on until he reached the city where Abraham's brother Nahor lived.

11He didn't go straight into the city, he stopped the camels outside at the waterhole. He made them sit down and he waited for a while. It was late afternoon. At that time the young women who lived in the city used to come to the well to get water.

12Then the servant prayed to Yahweh and said, “Please, Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, help me today and keep your promise to my master.

13Look! Here I am standing at the well. Soon the young women of the city will come here for water.

14I will speak to one of them and say, ‘Please put down your jar and let me have a drink.’ Maybe she will say, ‘Yes, drink. And then I will also bring water for your camels.’ If she says that to me, I want her to be the one you have already chosen for Isaac's wife. Then I will know that you have kept the promise you made to Abraham.”

15While he was still praying a young girl called Rebecca arrived. She was carrying a water-jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel. Bethuel's father was Nahor, Abraham's younger brother, but his mother was Milcah.

16She was a beautiful young girl who had never slept with a man. She went to the well and went down and filled the jar and came up again.

17The servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a drink of water.”

18“Here you are, have a drink,” she said. She quickly put down her jar and held it for him while he drank.

19When he had finished she said to him, “I will also bring water for your camels until they have had enough.”

20She quickly emptied her jar into the stone drinking trough that was near the well so that people could give their animals water to drink. She ran to the well again and brought more water for his camels. She went on bringing water until all the camels had had enough to drink.

21The servant kept watching her, but he didn't say a word. He was waiting to see if Yahweh had chosen her for Isaac's wife.

22When the camels had finished drinking, he gave her some beautiful things. First he put a gold ring in her nose. Then he put two big gold bangles on her arms.

23He said, “Who is your father? Is there room in his house for my men and me to stay for the night?”

24“My father is Bethuel,” she said. “His father is Nahor and his mother is Milcah.

25There is plenty of grass for your camels and plenty of room for you to stay.”

26Then the servant bowed down with his face to the ground and worshipped Yahweh.

27He said to him, “Yahweh, you are the God of Abraham. I am praising you because you have kept your promise to him and you have brought me straight to his family today.”

28The girl ran home and told her mother everything.

29Her brother Laban saw the nose-ring and the bangles and he heard what she told her mother. He ran outside and went to the well where the servant was waiting. He was still standing near the well with his camels.

31Laban said, “Come home with me. Yahweh is pleased with you. Don't stay here. I have room for you and your men in my house and a place for the camels too.”

32So Laban and Abraham's servant and his men went to Laban's house. Laban unloaded the camels and gave them grass to eat. Then he brought water for Abraham's servant and his men to wash their feet.

33His own servants cooked food and brought it to them. Abraham's servant said to Laban, “We won't eat yet. I want to speak first.” Laban said, “Then speak.”

34Then Abraham's servant told Laban and Bethuel about his master. He said, “I am Abraham's servant.

35Yahweh has blessed my master Abraham and so he is a rich man today. Yahweh has given him sheep, goats, cattle, camels and donkeys. He has given him silver and gold, and also men and women to work for him as servants.

36My master's wife Sarah gave birth to a son for him when she was old, and my master has given everything he owns to him.

37“My master made me promise to obey him. He said, ‘Don't get a Canaanite girl to be a wife for my son.

38But go to my father's people and get a girl from there for him.’

39I said, ‘What will I do if she won't come with me?’

40And Abraham said, ‘Yahweh himself, the one I still obey as I have always done, will help you. He will send his angel to you to help you and show you what to do. You will get a wife for my son from my own people.

41But if you go to my people and they refuse and you can't get someone, then I will free you from that promise when you come back without anyone.’

42“When I arrived here today, while I was waiting at the waterhole I prayed to Yahweh and said, ‘Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, help me and show me the right girl today.

43Look! I am standing here at the well. When a young girl comes here for water, I will say to her, May I have a drink from your jar?

44If she agrees and also says, I will bring water for your camels, then I want her to be the wife you have chosen for Abraham's son.’

45“I was praying quietly, and while I was still praying Rebecca came with a water-jar on her shoulder. She went down to the well for water and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’

46She quickly put down her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will get water for your camels too.’ So I drank and she brought water for my camels.

47I said, ‘Who is your father?’ She answered, ‘My father is called Bethuel, and his father is Nahor and his mother is Milcah.’ Then I put the ring in her nose and the two bangles on her arms.

48I bowed down and worshipped Yahweh. I praised Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham. Yahweh is the one who brought me straight here. He brought me to you, Bethuel, one of Abraham's family, and to your daughter, so that she can be a wife for Abraham's son.

49Now if you will have pity on my master and be good to him, please tell me. And if not, say so, and I will decide what to do.”

50Then Laban and Bethuel said to him, “Yahweh himself has done everything you have told us today, so we can't decide, we can't refuse your master.

51Here is Rebecca. Take her and go, so that your master's son can have her, because Yahweh himself has decided.”

52When Abraham's servant heard this, he bowed down and worshipped Yahweh.

53Then he brought clothes and jewellery made of silver and gold and other precious things and gave them to Rebecca. And he gave expensive presents to her brother and her mother.

54Then Abraham's servant and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night in Bethuel's house. Then the next morning Abraham's servant got up and said to Rebecca's family, “Let me go back to my master now.”

55But Rebecca's mother and her brother said, “Let her stay a bit longer, a week or ten days, and then we will let her go.”

56The servant said, “Don't make us stay. Yahweh has helped me and shown me the right girl. Now let us go back to my master.”

57They said, “Let us call her and see what she says.”

58So they called Rebecca and asked, “Do you want to go with this man?” “Yes,” she answered.

59So they let Rebecca go with Abraham's servant and his men. And they sent an old woman, Rebecca's servant, too.

60And they blessed Rebecca before she left. They said, “You will be the ancestor of many, many people. May your descendants be strong. When they fight other people, they will rule over them.”

61Then Rebecca and her young women servants and the old woman collected their things and got on the camels. Then they set off with Abraham's servants.

62They went on and on until they reached Canaan. Then they kept on going south. Isaac was living there in the south of Canaan, in the desert at the waterhole called “The Owner of the Waterhole is Alive and He Sees Me.”

63He came out of his tent when the sun was setting, and while he was out walking he saw the camels coming.

64When Rebecca saw Isaac, she got down from her camel

65and asked Abraham's servant, “Who is that man walking towards us?” He answered, “He is my master.” So she took a cloth and covered her face.

66Then the servant told Isaac everything that he had done.

67Isaac took Rebecca into his tent. It had belonged to his mother Sarah. Then Rebecca became his wife and Isaac loved her and she comforted him after his mother's death.