Genesis 24:12-52

12He said, “1O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please 23grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham. 13Behold, 4I am standing by the 5spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; 14now may it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and 6who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’--may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.”

157Before he had finished speaking, behold, 8Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of 9Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder. 16The girl was 10very beautiful, a virgin, and no man had 11had relations with her; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. 17Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “12Please let me drink a little water from your jar.” 1813She said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink. 19Now when she had finished giving him a drink, 14she said, “I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.” 20So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. 2115Meanwhile, the man was gazing at her 16in silence, to know whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.

22When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a 17gold ring weighing a half-shekel and two bracelets for her 18wrists weighing ten shekels in gold, 23and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to lodge in your father’s house?” 24She said to him, “19I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” 25Again she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to lodge in.” 26Then the man 20bowed low and worshiped the Lord. 27He said, “21Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken 22His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, 23the Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”

28Then 24the girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things. 29Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was 25Laban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring. 30When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s 26wrists, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “27This is what the man said to me,” he went to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. 31And he said, “28Come in, 29blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside since 30I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels?” 32So the man entered the house. Then 3132Laban unloaded the camels, and he gave straw and feed to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. 33But when food was set before him to eat, he said, “I will not eat until I have told my business.” And he said, “Speak on.” 34So he said, “I am 33Abraham’s servant. 35The Lord has greatly 34blessed my master, so that he has become 35rich; and He has given him 36flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and maids, and camels and donkeys. 36Now 37Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master 38in her old age, and 39he has given him all that he has. 3740My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I 41live; 38but you shall go to my father’s house and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’ 3942I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’ 40He said to me, ‘43The Lord, before whom I have 44walked, will send 45His 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; 4146then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my relatives; and if they do not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’

42“So 47I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I go 48successful; 43behold, 49I am standing by the 50spring, and may it be that the maiden who comes out to draw, and to whom I say, “51Please let me drink a little water from your jar”; 44and she will say to me, “You drink, and I will draw for your camels also”; let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’

45“Before I had finished 52speaking in my heart, behold, 53Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and went down to the spring and drew, and 54I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 46She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘55Drink, and I will water your camels also’; so I drank, and she watered the camels also. 4756Then I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him’; and I put the 57ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her 58wrists. 48And I 59bowed low and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, 60who had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s 61kinsman for his son. 49So now if you are going to 6263deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, let me know, that I may turn to the right hand or the left.”

50Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “64The matter comes from the Lord; 65so we cannot speak to you bad or good. 51Here is Rebekah 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 66bowed himself to the ground 67before the Lord.