Genesis 24:4-48

4but you will go to 1my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” 5The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?” 6Then Abraham said to him, “2Beware that you do not take my son back there! 73The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘4To your 5descendants I will give this land’--He will send 6His angel ahead of you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. 8But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will 7be free of this oath of mine; 8only do not take my son back there.” 9So the servant 9placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham, and swore to him concerning this matter.

10Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and went out with a variety of 10good things of his master’s in his hand; so he set out and went to 11Mesopotamia, to 12the city of Nahor. 11He made the camels kneel down outside the city by 13the well of water 14when it was evening, 15the time when women go out to draw water. 12And he said, “16Lord, God of my master Abraham, please 1718grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13Behold, 19I am standing by the 20spring, 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 21who 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, 22before he had finished speaking, that behold, 23Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of 24Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder. 16The young woman was 25very beautiful, a virgin; no man had 26had relations with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. 17Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “27Please let me drink a little water from your jar.” 18And 28she 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, 29she 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. 2130Meanwhile, the man was taking a close look at her 31in silence, to find out whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.

22When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a 32gold ring weighing a 33half-shekel, and two bracelets for her 34wrists 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, “35I 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 36bowed low and worshiped the Lord. 27And he said, “37Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned 38His kindness and His trustworthiness toward my master; as for me, 39the Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”

28Then 40the young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things. 29Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was 41Laban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring. 30When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s 42wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, “43This 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, “44Come in, 45blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside, since 46I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels?” 32So the man entered the house. Then 4748Laban 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 49Abraham’s servant. 35The Lord has greatly 50blessed my master, so that he has become 51rich; and He has given him 52flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and slave women, and camels and donkeys. 36Now 53my master’s wife Sarah bore a son to my master 54in her old age, and 55he has given him all that he has. 3756My 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 57I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’ 40And he said to me, ‘58The Lord, before whom I have 59walked, will send 60His 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; 4161then 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 62I 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 63successful; 43behold, 64I am standing by the 65spring, and may it be that the 66young unmarried woman who comes out to draw water, and to whom I say, “67Please 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 68speaking in my heart, behold, 69Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and went down to the spring and drew water, and 70I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 46She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘71Drink, and I will water your camels also’; so I drank, and she watered the camels also. 4772Then 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 73ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her 74wrists. 48And I 75bowed low and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, 76who had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son.