Genesis 24:12-52

12And he said, “1Lord, God of my master Abraham, please 23grant me success today, and show kindness 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 young woman 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 kindness to my master.”

15And it came about, 7before he had finished speaking, that 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 young woman was 10very beautiful, a virgin; no man had 11had relations with her. She went down to the spring, 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.” 18And 13she said, “Drink, my lord”; then 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 also draw water 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 taking a close look at her 16in silence, to find out whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.

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

28Then 25the young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things. 29Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was 26Laban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring. 30When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s 27wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, “28This 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, “29Come in, 30blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside, since 31I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels?” 32So the man entered the house. Then 3233Laban 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 stated my business.” And he said, “Speak on.” 34So he said, “I am 34Abraham’s servant. 35The Lord has greatly 35blessed my master, so that he has become 36rich; and He has given him 37flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and slave women, and camels and donkeys. 36Now 38my master’s wife Sarah bore a son to my master 39in her old age, and 40he has given him all that he has. 3741My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; 38but you shall go to my father’s house and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’ 39Then 42I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’ 40And he 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, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I have been going 48successful; 43behold, 49I am standing by the 50spring, and may it be that the 51young unmarried woman who comes out to draw water, and to whom I say, “52Please let me drink a little water from your jar”; 44and she says 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 53speaking in my heart, behold, 54Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and went down to the spring and drew water, and 55I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 46She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘56Drink, and I will water your camels also’; so I drank, and she watered the camels also. 4757Then 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 58ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her 59wrists. 48And I 60bowed low and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, 61who had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. 49So now if you are going to 6263deal kindly and truthfully with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me now, so that I may turn to the right or the left.”

50Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “64The matter has come 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.