Thematic Bible: Rebekah (rebecca)


Thematic Bible



Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramaean of Paddan-aram, and the sister of Laban the Aramaean, to be his wife.

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. read more.
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. See, here is Rebekah: take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as the Lord has said. And at these words, Abraham's servant went down on his face and gave praise to the Lord. Then he took jewels of silver and jewels of gold and fair robes and gave them to Rebekah: and he gave things of value to her mother and her brother. Then he and the men who were with him had food and drink, and took their rest there that night; and in the morning he got up, and said, Let me now go back to my master. But her brother and her mother said, Let the girl be with us a week or ten days, and then she may go. And he said, Do not keep me; the Lord has given a good outcome to my journey; let me now go back to my master. And they said, We will send for the girl, and let her make the decision. And they sent for Rebekah and said to her, Are you ready to go with this man? And she said, I am ready. So they sent their sister Rebekah and her servant with Abraham's servant and his men. And they gave Rebekah their blessing, saying, O sister, may you be the mother of thousands and ten thousands; and may your seed overcome all those who make war against them. So Rebekah and her servant-women went with the man, seated on the camels; and so the servant took Rebekah and went on his way. Now Isaac had come through the waste land to Beer-lahai-roi; for he was living in the South. And when the evening was near, he went wandering out into the fields, and lifting up his eyes he saw camels coming. And when Rebekah, looking up, saw Isaac, she got down from her camel, And said to the servant, Who is that man coming to us through the field? And the servant said, It is my master: then she took her veil, covering her face with it. Then the servant gave Isaac the story of all he had done. And Isaac took Rebekah into his tent and she became his wife; and in his love for her, Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.


After these things, Abraham had news that Milcah, the wife of his brother Nahor, had given birth to children; Uz the oldest, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel, the father of Aram, And Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel. read more.
Bethuel was the father of Rebekah: these eight were the children of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham's brother.


Then Rebekah, hearing what Esau had said, sent for Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, It seems that your brother Esau is purposing to put you to death. So now, my son, do what I say: go quickly to Haran, to my brother Laban; And be there with him for a little time, till your brother's wrath is turned away; read more.
Till the memory of what you have done to him is past and he is no longer angry: then I will send word for you to come back; are the two of you to be taken from me in one day? Then Rebekah said to Isaac, My life is a weariness to me because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob takes a wife from among the daughters of Heth, such as these, the women of this land, of what use will my life be to me?


And when Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite: And Isaac and Rebekah had grief of mind because of them.


Isaac made prayer to the Lord for his wife because she had no children; and the Lord gave ear to his prayer, and Rebekah became with child. And the children were fighting together inside her, and she said, If it is to be so, why am I like this? So she went to put her question to the Lord. And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your body, and two peoples will come to birth from you: the one will be stronger than the other, and the older will be the servant of the younger. read more.
And when the time came for her to give birth, there were two children in her body. And the first came out red from head to foot like a robe of hair, and they gave him the name of Esau. And after him, his brother came out, gripping Esau's foot; and he was named Jacob: Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them. And the boys came to full growth; and Esau became a man of the open country, an expert bowman; but Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Now Isaac's love was for Esau, because Esau's meat was greatly to his taste: but Rebekah had more love for Jacob.


Now Isaac's words to his son were said in Rebekah's hearing. Then Esau went out to get the meat. And Rebekah said to Jacob, her son, Your father said to your brother Esau in my hearing, Go and get some roe's meat and make me a good meal, so that I may be full, and give you my blessing before the Lord before my death. read more.
Now, my son, do what I say. Go to the flock and get me two fat young goats; and I will make of them a meal to your father's taste: And you will take it to him, so that he may have a good meal and give you his blessing before his death. And Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, But Esau my brother is covered with hair, while I am smooth: If by chance my father puts his hand on me, it will seem to him that I am tricking him, and he will put a curse on me in place of a blessing. And his mother said, Let the curse be on me, my son: only do as I say, and go and get them for me. So he went and got them and took them to his mother: and she made a meal to his father's taste. And Rebekah took the fair robes of her oldest son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son: And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck: And she gave into the hand of Jacob, her son, the meat and the bread which she had made ready. And he came to his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I: who are you, my son? And Jacob said, I am Esau, your oldest son; I have done as you said: come now, be seated and take of my meat, so that you may give me a blessing. And Isaac said, How is it that you have got it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God made it come my way. And Isaac said, Come near so that I may put my hand on you, my son, and see if you are truly my son Esau or not. And Jacob went near his father Isaac: and he put his hands on him; and he said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he did not make out who he was, because his hands were covered with hair like his brother Esau's hands: so he gave him a blessing. And he said, Are you truly my son Esau? And he said, I am. And he said, Put it before me and I will take of my son's meat, so that I may give you a blessing. And he put it before him and he took it; and he gave him wine, and he had a drink. And his father Isaac said to him, Come near now, my son, and give me a kiss. And he came near and gave him a kiss; and smelling the smell of his clothing, he gave him a blessing, and said, See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field on which the blessing of the Lord has come: May God give you the dew of heaven, and the good things of the earth, and grain and wine in full measure: Let peoples be your servants, and nations go down before you: be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons go down before you: a curse be on everyone by whom you are cursed, and a blessing on those who give you a blessing.


So Isaac went on living in Gerar; And when he was questioned by the men of the place about his wife, he said, She is my sister; fearing to say, She is my wife; for, he said, the men of the place may put me to death on account of Rebekah; because she is very beautiful. And when he had been there for some time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looking through a window, saw Isaac playing with Rebekah his wife. read more.
And he said to Isaac, It is clear that she is your wife: why then did you say, She is my sister? And Isaac said, For fear that I might be put to death because of her. Then Abimelech said, What have you done to us? one of the people might well have had connection with your wife, and the sin would have been ours. And Abimelech gave orders to his people that anyone touching Isaac or his wife was to be put to death.


There Abraham and Sarah his wife were put to rest, and there they put Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I put Leah to rest.


And not only so, but Rebecca being about to have a child by our father Isaac--


Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain