Chronological Plan

¹Now after these things, God tested [the faith and commitment of] Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he answered, "Here I am."

²God said, "Take now your son, your only son [of promise], whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."

³So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and then he got up and went to the place of which God had told him.

⁴On the third day [of travel] Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

⁵Abraham said to his servants, "Settle down and stay here with the donkey; the young man and I will go over there and worship [God], and we will come back to you."

⁶Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on [the shoulders of] Isaac his son, and he took the fire (firepot) in his own hand and the [sacrificial] knife; and the two of them walked on together.

⁷And Isaac said to Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Isaac said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

⁸Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself a lamb for the burnt offering." So the two walked on together.

⁹When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood, and bound Isaac his son and placed him on the altar, on top of the wood.

¹⁰Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.

¹¹But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" He answered, "Here I am."

¹²The LORD said, "Do not reach out [with the knife in] your hand against the boy, and do nothing to [harm] him; for now I know that you fear God [with reverence and profound respect], since you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son [of promise]."

¹³Then Abraham looked up and glanced around, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering (ascending sacrifice) instead of his son.

¹⁴So Abraham named that place The LORD Will Provide. And it is said to this day, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be seen and provided."

¹⁵The Angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time

¹⁶and said, "By Myself (on the basis of Who I Am) I have sworn [an oath], declares the LORD, that since you have done this thing and have not withheld [from Me] your son, your only son [of promise],

¹⁷indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies [as conquerors].

¹⁸Through your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have heard and obeyed My voice."

¹⁹So Abraham returned to his servants, and they got up and went with him to Beersheba; and Abraham settled in Beersheba.

²⁰Now after these things Abraham was told, "Milcah has borne children to your brother Nahor:

²¹Uz the firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram,

²²Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel."

²³Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight [children] Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother.

²⁴Nahor's concubine, whose name was Reumah, gave birth to Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.

¹Sarah lived a hundred and twenty-seven years; this was the length of the life of Sarah.

²Sarah died in Kiriath-arba(that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

³Then Abraham stood up before his dead [wife's body], and spoke to the sons of Heth (Hittites), saying,

⁴"I am a stranger and a sojourner (resident alien) among you; give (sell) me property for a burial place among you so that I may bury my dead [in the proper manner]."

⁵The Hittites replied to Abraham,

⁶"Listen to us, my lord; you are a prince of God [a mighty prince] among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our graves; none of us will refuse you his grave or hinder you from burying your dead [wife]."

⁷So Abraham stood up and bowed to the people of the land, the Hittites.

⁸And Abraham said to them, "If you are willing to grant my dead a [proper] burial, listen to me, and plead with Ephron the son of Zohar for me,

⁹so that he may give (sell) me the cave of Machpelah which he owns—it is at the end of his field; let him give it to me here in your presence for the full price as a burial site [which I may keep forever among you]."

¹⁰Now Ephron was present there among the sons of Heth; so within the hearing of all the sons of Heth and all who were entering the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham, saying,

¹¹"No, my lord, hear me; I give you the [entire] field, and I also give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the men of my people I give (sell) it to you; bury your dead [there]."

¹²Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.

¹³He said to Ephron in the presence of the people of the land, "If you will only please listen to me and accept my offer. I will give you the price of the field; accept it from me and I will bury my dead there."

¹⁴Ephron replied to Abraham,

¹⁵"My lord, listen to me. The land [you seek] is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that between you and me? So bury your dead."

¹⁶So Abraham listened to Ephron [and agreed to his terms]; and he weighed out for Ephron the [amount of] silver which he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.

¹⁷So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre (Hebron)—the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field and in all its borders around it—were deeded over [legally]

¹⁸to Abraham as his possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who were entering at the gate of his city.

¹⁹After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah to the east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

²⁰The field and the cave in it were deeded over to Abraham by the Hittites as a [permanent] possession and burial place.

¹Now Abraham was old, [well] advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.

²Abraham said to his servant [Eliezer of Damascus], the oldest of his household, who had charge over all that Abraham owned, "Please, put your hand under my thigh [as is customary for affirming a solemn oath],

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

⁴but you will [instead] go to my [former] country (Mesopotamia) and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac [the heir of the covenant promise]."

⁵The servant said to him, "Suppose the woman will not be willing to follow me back to this country; should I take your son back to the country 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, from the land of my family and my birth, who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, 'To your descendants I will give this land'—He will send His angel before you [to guide you], and you will take a wife from there for my son [and bring her here].

⁸If the woman is not willing to follow you [to this land], then you will be free from this my oath and blameless; only you must never 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 set out, taking some of his master's good things with him; so he got up and journeyed to Mesopotamia [between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers], to the city of Nahor [the home of Abraham's brother].

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

¹²And he said, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness (faithfulness) to my master Abraham.

¹³Behold, I stand here at the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water;

¹⁴now let it be that the girl to whom I say, 'Please, let down your jar so that I may [have a] drink,' and she replies, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels water to drink'—may she be the one whom You have selected [as a wife] for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness (faithfulness) to my master."

¹⁵Before Eliezer had finished speaking (praying), Rebekah came out with her [water] jar on her shoulder. Rebekah was the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor.

¹⁶The girl was very beautiful, a virgin and unmarried; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.

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

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

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

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

²¹Meanwhile, the man stood gazing at Rebekah in [reverent] silence, [waiting] to know if the LORD had made his trip successful or not.

²²When the camels had finished drinking, Eliezer took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel and two bracelets for her hands weighing ten shekels in gold,

²³and said, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to lodge?"

²⁴And she said to him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah's son, whom she bore to [her husband] Nahor."

²⁵Again she said to him, "We have plenty of both straw and feed, and also room to lodge."

²⁶The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD.

²⁷He said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not denied His lovingkindness and His truth to my master. As for me, the LORD led me to the house of my master's brothers."

²⁸Then the girl ran and told her mother's household what had happened.

²⁹Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran out to the man at the well.

³⁰When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and when he heard Rebekah his sister, saying, "The man said this to me," he went to Eliezer and found him standing by the camels at the spring.

³¹And Laban said, "Come in, blessed of the LORD! Why do you stand outside since I have made the house ready and have prepared a place for the camels?"

³²So the man came into the house, and Laban unloaded his camels and gave them straw and feed, and [he gave] water to [Eliezer to] wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

³³But when food was set before him, he said, "I will not eat until I have stated my business." And Laban said, "Speak on."

³⁴So he said, "I am Abraham's servant.

³⁵The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great (wealthy, powerful); He has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and maids, and camels and donkeys.

³⁶Now Sarah my master's wife bore a son to my master when she was in her old age, and he has given everything that he has to him.

³⁷My master made me swear [an oath], saying, 'You must not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live;

³⁸but you shall [instead] go to my father's house and to my family and take a wife for my son [Isaac].'

³⁹Then I said to my master, 'But suppose the woman will not follow me [back to this land].'

⁴⁰He said to me, 'The LORD, before whom I walk [habitually and obediently], will send His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father's house;

⁴¹then you will be free of my oath, when you come to my relatives; and if they do not give her to you, you will [also] be free of my oath.'

⁴²"I came today to the spring, and said, 'O LORD, God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I go successful;

⁴³please look, I am standing by the spring of water; now let it be that when the maiden [whom You have chosen for Isaac] comes out to draw [water], and to whom I say, "Please, give me a little water to drink from your jar";

⁴⁴and if she says to me, "You drink, and I will also draw [water] for your camels"; let that woman be the one whom the LORD has selected and chosen [as a wife] for my master's son.'

⁴⁵"Before I had finished praying in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her [water] jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. And I said to her, 'Please, let me have a drink.'

⁴⁶And she quickly let down her jar from her shoulder, and said, 'Drink, and I will also water your camels'; so I drank, and she also watered the camels.

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

⁴⁸And I bowed down my head and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take the daughter of my master's brother to his son [as a wife].

⁴⁹So now if you are going to show kindness and truth to my master [being faithful to him], tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right or to the left [and go on my way]."

⁵⁰Then Laban and Bethuel answered, "The matter has come from the LORD; so we dare not speak bad or good [to you about it—we cannot interfere].

⁵¹Rebekah 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 ground [in worship] before the LORD.

⁵³Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and articles of clothing, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and her mother.

⁵⁴Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night [there]. In the morning when they got up, he said, "Now send me back to my master."

⁵⁵But Rebekah's brother and mother said, "Let the girl stay with us a few days—at least ten; then she may go."

⁵⁶But Eliezer said to them, "Do not delay me, since the LORD has prospered my way. Send me away, so that I may go back to my master."

⁵⁷And they said, "We will call the girl and ask her what she prefers."

⁵⁸So they called Rebekah and said, "Will you go with this man?" And she answered, "I will go."

⁵⁹So they sent off their sister Rebekah and her nurse [Deborah, as her attendant] and Abraham's servant [Eliezer] and his men.

⁶⁰They blessed Rebekah and said to her, "May you, our sister, Become [the mother of] thousands of ten thousands, And may your descendants possess (conquer) The [city] gate of those who hate them."

⁶¹Then Rebekah and her attendants stood, and they mounted camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and went on his way.

⁶²Now Isaac had returned from going to Beer-lahai-roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me), for he was living in the Negev.

⁶³Isaac went out to bow down [in prayer] in the field in the [early] evening; he raised his eyes and looked, and camels were coming.

⁶⁴Rebekah also raised her eyes and looked, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from her camel.

⁶⁵She said to the servant, "Who is that man there walking across the field to meet us?" And the servant said, "He is my master [Isaac]." So she took a veil and covered herself [as was customary].

⁶⁶The servant told Isaac everything that he had done.

⁶⁷Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and he took Rebekah [in marriage], and she became his wife, and he loved her; therefore Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.