Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

He replied, “Here I am.”

Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said: “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.”

and said, “By Myself I have sworn,” this is the Lord’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son,

I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gates of their enemies.

And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed My command.”

Abraham went back to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham settled in Beer-sheba.

Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”

And Bethuel fathered Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

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

Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites:

Then Abraham rose and bowed down to the Hittites, the people of the land.

He said to them, “If you are willing for me to bury my dead, listen to me and ask Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf

to give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me in your presence, for the full price, as a burial place.”

“No, my lord. Listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”

and said to Ephron in the presence of the people of the land, “Please listen to me. Let me pay the price of the field. Accept it from me, and let me bury my dead there.”

Ephron answered Abraham and said to him,

“My lord, listen to me. Land worth 400 shekels of silver—what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”

Abraham agreed with Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver that he had agreed to in the presence of the Hittites: 400 shekels of silver at the current commercial rate.

So Ephron’s field at Machpelah near Mamre—the field with its cave and all the trees anywhere within the boundaries of the field—became

Abraham was now old, getting on in years, and the Lord had blessed him in everything.

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

but will go to my land and my family to take a wife for my son Isaac.”

The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’—He will send His angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.

So the servant placed his hand under his master Abraham’s thigh and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

The servant took 10 of his master’s camels and departed with all kinds of his master’s goods in hand. Then he set out for Nahor’s town Aram-naharaim.

He made the camels kneel beside a well of water outside the town at evening. This was the time when the women went out to draw water.

“Lord, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

Let the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your water jug so that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”

Now the girl was very beautiful, a young woman who had not known a man intimately. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up.

Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from your jug.”

She replied, “Drink, my lord.” She quickly lowered her jug to her hand and gave him a drink.

She quickly emptied her jug into the trough and hurried to the well again to draw water. She drew water for all his camels

After the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, and for her wrists two bracelets weighing 10 shekels of gold.

She also said to him, “We have plenty of straw and feed and a place to spend the night.”

and said, “Praise the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld His kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”

The girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things.

Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the spring.

As soon as he had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he had heard his sister Rebekah’s words—“The man said this to me!”—he went to the man. He was standing there by the camels at the spring.

Laban said, “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord. Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”

So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was brought to wash his feet and the feet of the men with him.

“The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.

Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.

but will go to my father’s household and to my family to take a wife for my son.’

He said to me, ‘The Lord before whom I have walked will send His angel with you and make your journey a success, and you will take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s household.

Then you will be free from my oath if you go to my family and they do not give her to you—you will be free from my oath.’

I am standing here at a spring. Let the virgin who comes out to draw water, and I say to her: Please let me drink a little water from your jug,

and who responds to me, ‘Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels also’—let her be the woman the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.

“Before I had finished praying silently, there was Rebekah coming with her jug on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her: Please let me have a drink.

She quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels.

Then I asked her: Whose daughter are you? She responded, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.

Then I bowed down, worshiped the Lord, and praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who guided me on the right way to take the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son.

Now, if you are going to show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; if not, tell me, and I will go elsewhere.”

Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the Lord; we have no choice in the matter.

Rebekah is here in front of you. Take her and go, and let her be a wife for your master’s son, just as the Lord has spoken.”

Then he brought out objects of silver and gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother.

Then he and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night.

When they got up in the morning, he said, “Send me to my master.”

But her brother and mother said, “Let the girl stay with us for about 10 days. Then she can go.”

So they said, “Let’s call the girl and ask her opinion.”

They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”

She replied, “I will go.”

So they sent away their sister Rebekah with the one who had nursed and raised her, and Abraham’s servant and his men.

Then Rebekah and her female servants got up, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

In the early evening Isaac went out to walk in the field, and looking up he saw camels coming.

Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she got down from her camel

and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”

The servant answered, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself.

And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah to be his wife. Isaac loved her, and he was comforted after his mother’s death.

and she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s sons were the Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.

And Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were sons of Keturah.

And Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines, but while he was still alive he sent them eastward, away from his son Isaac, to the land of the East.

He took his last breath and died at a ripe old age, old and contented, and he was gathered to his people.

His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite.

Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.

These are Ishmael’s sons, and these are their names by their villages and encampments: 12 leaders of their clans.

This is the length of Ishmael’s life: 137 years. He took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people.

And they settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt as you go toward Asshur. He lived in opposition to all his brothers.

Isaac was 40 years old when he took as his wife Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.

But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

And the Lord said to her:

Two nations are in your womb;
two people will come from you and be separated.
One people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.

The first one came out red-looking, covered with hair like a fur coat, and they named him Esau.

Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him.

Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright.

There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.

The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you about;

stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.

I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring,

because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My mandate, My commands, My statutes, and My instructions.”

When Isaac had been there for some time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”

Then Abimelech said, “What is this you’ve done to us? One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.”

Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped a hundred times what was sown. The Lord blessed him,

and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy.

He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were envious of him.

And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us, for you are much too powerful for us.”

So Isaac left there, camped in the Valley of Gerar, and lived there.

Isaac reopened the water wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. He gave them the same names his father had given them.

Then Isaac’s slaves dug in the valley and found a well of spring water there.