And God was with the boy, and he became tall and strong, and he became a bowman, living in the waste land.

And while he was in the waste land of Paran, his mother got him a wife from the land of Egypt.

Now at that time, Abimelech and Phicol, the captain of his army, said to Abraham, I see that God is with you in all you do.

Now, then, give me your oath, in the name of God, that you will not be false to me or to my sons after me, but that as I have been good to you, so you will be to me and to this land where you have been living.

And Abraham said, I will give you my oath.

But Abimelech said, I have no idea who has done this thing; you never gave me word of it, and I had no knowledge of it till this day.

And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made an agreement together.

And Abraham put seven young lambs of the flock on one side by themselves.

And he said, Take these seven lambs from me as a witness that I have made this water-hole.

So they made an agreement at Beer-sheba, and Abimelech and Phicol, the captain of his army, went back to the land of the Philistines.

And Abraham, after planting a holy tree in Beer-sheba, gave worship to the name of the Lord, the Eternal God.

And Abraham went on living in the land of the Philistines as in a strange country.

Now after these things, God put Abraham to the test, and said to him, Abraham; and he said, Here am I.

And he said to him, Take your son, your dearly loved only son Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and give him as a burned offering on one of the mountains of which I will give you knowledge.

And Abraham got up early in the morning, and made ready his ass, and took with him two of his young men and Isaac, his son, and after the wood for the burned offering had been cut, he went on his way to the place of which God had given him word.

And on the third day, Abraham, lifting up his eyes, saw the place a long way off.

Then he said to his young men, Keep here with the ass; and I and the boy will go on and give worship and come back again to you.

And Abraham put the wood for the burned offering on his son's back, and he himself took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them went on together.

Then Isaac said to Abraham, My father; and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, We have wood and fire here, but where is the lamb for the burned offering?

And Abraham said, God himself will give the lamb for the burned offering: so they went on together.

And they came to the place of which God had given him knowledge; and there Abraham made the altar and put the wood in place on it, and having made tight the bands round Isaac his son, he put him on the wood on the altar.

And stretching out his hand, Abraham took the knife to put his son to death.

But the voice of the angel of the Lord came from heaven, saying, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

And he said, Let not your hand be stretched out against the boy to do anything to him; for now I am certain that the fear of God is in your heart, because you have not kept back your son, your only son, from me.

And lifting up his eyes, Abraham saw a sheep fixed by its horns in the brushwood: and Abraham took the sheep and made a burned offering of it in place of his son.

And Abraham gave that place the name Yahweh-yireh: as it is said to this day, In the mountain the Lord is seen.

And the voice of the angel of the Lord came to Abraham a second time from heaven,

Saying, I have taken an oath by my name, says the Lord, because you have done this and have not kept back from me your dearly loved only son,

That I will certainly give you my blessing, and your seed will be increased like the stars of heaven and the sand by the seaside; your seed will take the land of those who are against them;

And your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, because you have done what I gave you orders to do.

Then Abraham went back to his young men and they went together to Beer-sheba, the place where Abraham was living.

Uz the oldest, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel, the father of Aram,

And Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.

Bethuel was the father of Rebekah: these eight were the children of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham's brother.

And his servant Reumah gave birth to Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.

Now the years of Sarah's life were a hundred and twenty-seven.

And Sarah's death took place in Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan: and Abraham went into his house, weeping and sorrowing for Sarah.

And Abraham came from his dead and said to the children of Heth,

And in answer the children of Heth said to Abraham,

And Abraham got up and gave honour to the children of Heth, the people of that land.

And he said to them, If you will let me put my dead to rest here, make a request for me to Ephron, the son of Zohar,

That he will give me the hollow in the rock named Machpelah, which is his property at the end of his field; let him give it to me for its full price as a resting-place for my dead among you.

Now Ephron was seated among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite gave Abraham his answer in the hearing of the children of Heth, and of all those who came into his town, saying,

And Abraham went down on his face before the people of the land.

And Abraham said to Ephron, in the hearing of the people of the land, If only you will give ear to me, I will give you the price of the field; take it, and let me put my dead to rest there.

My lord, give ear to me: the value of the land is four hundred shekels; what is that between me and you? so put your dead to rest there.

And Abraham took note of the price fixed by Ephron in the hearing of the children of Heth, and gave him four hundred shekels in current money.

So Ephron's field at Machpelah near Mamre, with the hollow in the rock and all the trees in the field and round it,

Became the property of Abraham before the eyes of the children of Heth and of all who came into the town.

And the field and the hollow rock were handed over to Abraham as his property by the children of Heth.

Now Abraham was old and far on in years: and the Lord had given him everything in full measure.

And Abraham said to his chief servant, the manager of all his property, Come now, put your hand under my leg:

And take an oath by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not get a wife for my son Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am living;

But that you will go into my country and to my relations and get a wife there for my son Isaac.

And the servant said, If by chance the woman will not come with me into this land, am I to take your son back again to the land from which you came?

And Abraham said, Take care that you do not let my son go back to that land.

The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and made an oath to me, saying, To your seed I will give this land: he will send his angel before you and give you a wife for my son in that land.

And if the woman will not come with you, then you are free from this oath; only do not take my son back there.

And the servant put his hand under Abraham's leg, and gave him his oath about this thing.

And the servant took ten of his master's camels, and all sorts of good things of his master's, and went to Mesopotamia, to the town of Nahor.

And he made the camels take their rest outside the town by the water-spring in the evening, at the time when the women came to get water.

And he said, O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, let me do well in what I have undertaken this day, and give your mercy to my master Abraham.

See, I am waiting here by the water-spring; and the daughters of the town are coming out to get water:

Now, may the girl to whom I say, Let down your vessel and give me a drink, and who says in answer, Here is a drink for you and let me give water to your camels: may she be the one marked out by you for your servant Isaac: so may I be certain that you have been good to my master Abraham.

And even before his words were ended, Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, who was the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her water-vessel on her arm.

She was a very beautiful girl, a virgin, who had never been touched by a man: and she went down to the spring to get water in her vessel.

And the servant came running to her and said, Give me a little water from your vessel.

And she said, Take a drink, my lord: and quickly letting down her vessel onto her hand, she gave him a drink.

And having done so, she said, I will get water for your camels till they have had enough.

And after putting the water from her vessel into the animals' drinking-place, she went quickly back to the spring and got water for all the camels.

And the man, looking at her, said nothing, waiting to see if the Lord had given his journey a good outcome.

And when the camels had had enough, the man took a gold nose-ring, half a shekel in weight, and two ornaments for her arms of ten shekels weight of gold;

And said to her, Whose daughter are you? is there room in your father's house for us?

And she said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, Nahor's wife.

And she said, We have a great store of dry grass and cattle-food, and there is room for you.

And with bent head the man gave worship to the Lord;

And said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has given a sign that he is good and true to my master, by guiding me straight to the house of my master's family.

So the girl went running and took the news of these things to her mother's house

Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he came out quickly to the man at the water-spring.

And when he saw the nose-ring and the ornaments on his sister's hands, and when she gave him word of what the man had said to her, then he went out to the man who was waiting with the camels by the water-spring.

And he said to him, Come in, you on whom is the blessing of the Lord; why are you waiting outside? for I have made the house ready for you, and a place for the camels.

Then the man came into the house, and Laban took their cords off the camels and gave them dry grass and food, and he gave to him and the men who were with him water for washing their feet.

And meat was put before him, but he said, I will not take food till I have made my business clear to you. And they said, Do so.

And he said, I am Abraham's servant.

The Lord has given my master every blessing, and he has become great: he has given him flocks and herds and silver and gold, and men-servants and women-servants and camels and asses.

And when Sarah, my master's wife, was old, she gave birth to a son, to whom he has given all he has.

And my master made me take an oath, saying, Do not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am living;

But go to my father's house and to my relations for a wife for my son.

And I said to my master, What if the woman will not come with me?

And he said, The Lord, whom I have ever kept before me, will send his angel with you, who will make it possible for you to get a wife for my son from my relations and my father's house;

And you will be free from your oath to me when you come to my people; and if they will not give her to you, you will be free from your oath.

And I came today to the water-spring, and I said, O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if it is your purpose to give a good outcome to my journey,

Let it come about that, while I am waiting here by the water-spring, if a girl comes to get water and I say to her, Give me a little water from your vessel, and she says,

Take a drink, and I will get water for your camels; let her be the woman marked out by the Lord for my master's son.

And even while I was saying this to myself, Rebekah came out with her vessel on her arm; and she went down to the spring to get water; and I said to her, Give me a drink.

And straight away she took down her vessel from her arm, and said, Take a drink, and I will get water for your camels.

And questioning her, I said, Whose daughter are you? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, and Milcah his wife. Then I put the ring on her nose and the ornaments on her hands.

And with bent head I gave worship and praise to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, by whom I had been guided in the right way, to get the daughter of my master's brother for his son.

And now, say if you will do what is good and right for my master or not, in order that it may be clear to me what I have to do.

Then Laban and Bethuel said in answer, This is the Lord's doing: it is not for us to say Yes or No to you.