Abraham, Kill Your Son

22 After these things God decided to test Abraham’s faith. God said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Yes!”

² Then God said, “Take your son to the land of Moriah and kill your son there as a sacrifice for me. This must be Isaac, your only son, the one you love. Use him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains there. I will tell you which mountain.”

³ In the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took Isaac and two servants with him. He cut the wood for the sacrifice. Then they went to the place where God told them to go. ⁴ After they traveled three days, Abraham looked up, and in the distance he saw the place where they were going. ⁵ Then he said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go to that place and worship. Then we will come back to you later.”

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the sacrifice and put it on his son’s shoulder. Abraham took the special knife and fire. Then both he and his son went together to the place for worship.

⁷ Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!”

Abraham answered, “Yes, son?”

Isaac said, “I see the wood and the fire. But where is the lamb we will burn as a sacrifice?”

⁸ Abraham answered, “God himself is providing the lamb for the sacrifice, my son.”

So both Abraham and his son went together to that place. ⁹ When they came to the place where God told them to go, Abraham built an altar. He carefully laid the wood on the altar. Then he tied up his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached for his knife to kill his son.

¹¹ But the angel of the Lord stopped him. The angel called from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

Abraham answered, “Yes?”

¹² The angel said, “Don’t kill your son or hurt him in any way. Now I can see that you do respect and obey God. I see that you are ready to kill your son, your only son, for me.”

¹³ Then Abraham noticed a ram whose horns were caught in a bush. So Abraham went and took the ram. He offered it, instead of his son, as a sacrifice to God. ¹⁴ So Abraham gave that place a name, “The Lord Provides.”^[a] Even today people say, “On the mountain of the Lord, he will give us what we need.”^[b]

¹⁵ The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time. ¹⁶ The angel said, “You were ready to kill your only son for me. Since you did this for me, I make you this promise: I, the Lord, promise that ¹⁷ I will surely bless you and give you as many descendants as the stars in the sky. There will be as many people as sand on the seashore. And your people will live in cities that they will take from their enemies. ¹⁸ Every nation on the earth will be blessed through your descendants. I will do this because you obeyed me.”

¹⁹ Then Abraham went back to his servants. They all traveled back to Beersheba, and Abraham stayed there.

²⁰ After all these things happened, a message was sent to Abraham. It said, “Your brother Nahor and his wife Milcah have children now. ²¹ The first son is Uz. The second son is Buz. The third son is Kemuel, the father of Aram. ²² Then there are Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ Bethuel was the father of Rebekah. Milcah was the mother of these eight sons, and Nahor was the father. Nahor was Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ Also Nahor had four other sons from his slave woman Reumah. The sons were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Sarah Dies

23 Sarah lived to be 127 years old. ² She died in the city of Kiriath Arba (Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham was very sad and cried for her there. ³ Then he left his dead wife and went to talk to the Hittites. He said, ⁴ “I am only a foreigner staying in your country. I have no place to bury my wife. Please give me some land so that I can bury her.”

⁵ The Hittites answered Abraham, ⁶ “Sir, you are a great leader^[c] among us. You can have the best place we have to bury your dead. You can have any of our burying places that you want. None of us will stop you from burying your wife there.”

⁷ Abraham got up and bowed to the people. ⁸ He said to them, “If you really want to help me bury my dead wife, speak to Ephron the son of Zohar for me. ⁹ I would like to buy the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to Ephron. It is at the end of his field. I will pay him the full price. I want all of you to be witnesses that I am buying it as a burial place.”

¹⁰ Ephron was sitting there among the people. He answered Abraham, ¹¹ “No, sir. Here in front of my people, I give you that land and the cave on it so that you can bury your wife.”

¹² Abraham bowed before the Hittites. ¹³ He said to Ephron before all the people, “But I want to give you the full price for the field. Accept my money, and I will bury my dead.”

¹⁴ Ephron answered Abraham, ¹⁵ “Sir, listen to me. Ten pounds^[d] of silver mean nothing to you or me. Take the land and bury your dead wife.”

¹⁶ Abraham understood that Ephron was telling him the price of the land.^[e] So Abraham paid him for the land. He weighed out ten pounds of silver for Ephron and gave it to the merchant.^[f]

^17-18 So the field of Ephron changed owners. This field was in Machpelah, near Mamre. Abraham became the owner of the field, the cave in it, and all the trees in the field. Everyone in the city saw the agreement between Ephron and Abraham. ¹⁹ After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of that field near Mamre (Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰ Abraham bought the field and the cave in it from the Hittites. So this became his property to be used as a burial place.

A Wife for Isaac

24 Abraham lived to be a very old man. The Lord blessed him and everything he did. ² Abraham’s oldest servant was in charge of everything he owned. Abraham called that servant to him and said, “Put your hand under my leg.^{[g] 3} Now I want you to make a promise to me. Promise to me before the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry a girl from Canaan. We live among these people, but don’t let him marry a Canaanite girl. ⁴ Go back to my country, to my own people, to find a wife for my son Isaac. Bring her here to him.”

⁵ The servant said to him, “Maybe this woman will not want to come back with me to this land. If that happens, should I take your son with me to your homeland?”

⁶ Abraham said to him, “No, don’t take my son to that place. ⁷ The Lord, the God of heaven, brought me from my homeland to this place. That place was the home of my father and the home of my family, but he promised that this new land would belong to my family. May he send his angel before you so that you can choose a wife for my son. ⁸ If the girl refuses to come with you, you will be free from this promise. But you must not take my son back to that place.”

⁹ So the servant put his hand under his master’s leg and made the promise.

The Search Begins

¹⁰ The servant took ten of Abraham’s camels and left that place. The servant carried with him many different kinds of beautiful gifts. He went to Mesopotamia, to Nahor’s city. ¹¹ In the evening, when the women come out to get water, he went to the water well outside the city. He made the camels kneel down at the well.

¹² The servant said, “Lord, you are the God of my master Abraham. Please show your kindness to my master by helping me find a wife for his son Isaac. ¹³ Here I am, standing by this well of water, and the young women from the city are coming out to get water. ¹⁴ I will say to one of them, ‘Please put your jar down so that I can drink.’ Let her answer show whether she is the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. If she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give water to your camels,’ I will know that she is the right one. It will be proof that you have shown kindness to my master.”

A Wife Is Found

¹⁵ Before the servant finished praying, a young woman named Rebekah came to the well. She was the daughter of Bethuel. (Bethuel was the son of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham’s brother.) Rebekah came to the well with her water jar on her shoulder. ¹⁶ She was very pretty. She was a virgin; no man had ever had sexual relations with her. She went down to the well and filled her jar. ¹⁷ Then the servant ran to her and said, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.”

¹⁸ Rebekah quickly lowered the jar from her shoulder and gave him a drink. She said, “Drink this, sir.” ¹⁹ As soon as she finished giving him something to drink, Rebekah said, “I will also pour some water for your camels.” ²⁰ So Rebekah quickly poured all the water from her jar into the drinking trough for the camels. Then she ran to the well to get more water, and she gave water to all the camels.

²¹ The servant quietly watched her. He wanted to be sure that the Lord had given him an answer and had made his trip successful. ²² After the camels finished drinking, he gave Rebekah a gold ring that weighed 1/4 ounce.^[h] He also gave her two gold arm bracelets that weighed 2 ounces^[i] each. ²³ The servant asked, “Who is your father? And is there a place in your father’s house for me and my men to sleep?”

²⁴ Rebekah answered, “My father is Bethuel, the son of Milcah and Nahor.” ²⁵ Then she said, “Yes, we have straw and other food for your camels and a place for you to sleep.”

²⁶ The servant bowed and worshiped the Lord. ²⁷ He said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham. The Lord has been kind and loyal to him by leading me to his own people.”

²⁸ Then Rebekah ran and told her family about all these things. ^29-30 She had a brother named Laban. She told him what the man had said to her. Laban was listening to her. And when he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, he ran out to the well. There the man was, standing by the camels at the well. ³¹ Laban said, “Sir, you are welcome to come in!^[j] You don’t have to stand outside here. I have prepared a room for you to sleep in and a place for your camels.”

³² So Abraham’s servant went into the house. Laban unloaded his camels and gave them straw and feed. Then he gave Abraham’s servant water so that he and the men with him could wash their feet. ³³ Laban then gave him food to eat, but the servant refused to eat. He said, “I will not eat until I have told you why I came.”

So Laban said, “Then tell us.”

Bargaining for Rebekah

³⁴ The servant said, “I am Abraham’s servant. ³⁵ The Lord has greatly blessed my master in everything. My master has become a great man. The Lord has given him many flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. He has much silver and gold and many servants. He has many camels and donkeys. ³⁶ Sarah was my master’s wife. When she was very old, she gave birth to a son, and my master has given everything he owns to that son. ³⁷ My master forced me to make a promise to him. He said to me, ‘You must not allow my son to marry a girl from Canaan. We live among these people, but I don’t want him to marry one of the Canaanite girls. ³⁸ So you must promise to go to my father’s country. Go to my family and choose a wife for my son.’ ³⁹ I said to my master, ‘Maybe the woman will not come back to this place with me.’ ⁴⁰ But my master said to me, ‘I serve the Lord, and he will send his angel with you and help you. You will find a wife for my son among my people there. ⁴¹ But if you go to my father’s country, and they refuse to give you a wife for my son, you will be free from this promise.’

⁴² “Today I came to this well and said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, please make my trip successful. ⁴³ I will stand by this well and wait for a young woman to come to get water. Then I will say, “Please give me water from your jar to drink.” ⁴⁴ The right woman will answer in a special way. She will say, “Drink this water, and I will also get water for your camels.” That way I will know that she is the one the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’

⁴⁵ “Before I finished praying, Rebekah came out to the well to get water. She had her water jar on her shoulder as she went to get water from the well. I asked her to give me some water. ⁴⁶ She quickly lowered the jar from her shoulder and poured me some water. Then she said, ‘Drink this, and I’ll get some water for your camels.’ So I drank the water, and she gave water to my camels. ⁴⁷ Then I asked her, ‘Who is your father?’ She answered, ‘My father is Bethuel the son of Milcah and Nahor.’ Then I gave her the ring and bracelets for her arms. ⁴⁸ I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham. I thanked him for leading me straight to the granddaughter of my master’s brother. ⁴⁹ Now, tell me, will you be kind and loyal to my master and give him your daughter? Or will you refuse to give her to him? Tell me so that I will know what I should do.”

⁵⁰ Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “We see that this is from the Lord, so there is nothing we can say to change it. ⁵¹ Here is Rebekah. Take her and go. Let her marry your master’s son. This is what the Lord wants.”

⁵² When Abraham’s servant heard this, he bowed to the ground before the Lord. ⁵³ Then he gave Rebekah the gifts he brought. He gave her beautiful clothes and gold and silver jewelry. He also gave expensive gifts to her mother and brother. ⁵⁴ Then he and his men had something to eat and drink, and they spent the night there. Early the next morning they got up and the servant said, “Now we must go back to my master.”

⁵⁵ Rebekah’s mother and her brother said, “Let Rebekah stay with us for a short time. Let her stay with us ten days. After that she can go.”

⁵⁶ But the servant said to them, “Don’t make me wait. The Lord has made my trip successful. Now let me go back to my master.”

⁵⁷ Rebekah’s brother and mother said, “We will call Rebekah and ask her what she wants to do.” ⁵⁸ They called her and asked her, “Do you want to go with this man now?”

Rebekah said, “Yes, I will go.”

⁵⁹ So they allowed Rebekah to go with Abraham’s servant and his men. Her nurse also went with them. ⁶⁰ While Rebekah was leaving they said to her,

⁶¹ Then Rebekah and her nurse got on the camels and followed the servant and his men. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

⁶² Isaac had left Beer Lahai Roi and was now living in the Negev. ⁶³ One evening he went out to the field to think.^[k] He looked up and saw the camels coming from far away.

⁶⁴ Rebekah also looked and saw Isaac. Then she jumped down from the camel. ⁶⁵ She said to the servant, “Who is that young man walking in the field to meet us?”

The servant said, “That is my master’s son.” So Rebekah covered her face with her veil.

⁶⁶ The servant told Isaac everything that had happened. ⁶⁷ Then Isaac brought the girl into his mother’s tent. Rebekah became his wife that day. Isaac loved her very much. So he was comforted after his mother’s death.