Abraham’s Family · c. 2026–1991 BC
Chapter 7
A Wife for Isaac
They called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”She said, “I will go.”
was very old by now, and the had blessed him in everything. He said to the oldest servant of his household, the one in charge of everything he owned, “Please put your . Swear to me by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you won’t choose a wife for my son from the women of the , the people I live among. Instead, go to the land I came from, to my own family, and choose a wife for my son from among them.”
The servant said to him, “What if the woman isn’t willing to come back with me to this land? Should I take your son back to the land you came from?”
“Make sure you never take my son back there,” Abraham told him. “The Lord, the God of heaven, took me away from my father’s home and from the land where I was born. He spoke to me and gave me his solemn promise: ‘I will give this land to your .’ He will send his ahead of you, and you will find a wife for my son there. If the woman isn’t willing to come with you, then you will be free from this oath. Only never take my son back there.”
So the servant put his hand under his master Abraham’s thigh and swore to do what Abraham asked.
The servant took ten of his master’s camels and set out, carrying all kinds of good things that belonged to his master. He went to , to the town of Nahor. He made the camels kneel down beside the well outside the town. It was evening, the time when the women come out to get water.
Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, please give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Look, I am standing here by the spring, and the town’s young women are coming out to draw water. Let it happen like this. I will ask one of them, ‘Please lower your jar so I can have a drink.’ If she answers, ‘Drink, and I’ll give your camels a drink too,’ then let her be the woman you have chosen for your servant Isaac. That is how I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”
He had not yet finished speaking when came out with her water jar on her shoulder. Her father was . Bethuel’s mother was , and his father was , Abraham’s brother. The young woman was very beautiful to look at. She was a virgin; she had never slept with a man. She went down to the spring. She filled her jar and came back up.
The servant ran to meet her. “Please give me a drink,” he said, “just a little water from your jar.”
“Drink, my lord,” she said. She quickly lowered the jar into her hands and let him drink.
When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I’ll get water for your camels too, until they’ve all had enough to drink.” She hurried to empty her jar into the trough where the animals drank. Then she ran back to the well for more, and she drew water for all his camels.
The man watched her closely without saying a word, waiting to learn whether the Lord had made his journey a success or not.
After the camels were done drinking, the man brought out a gold ring weighing half a shekel, about a fifth of an ounce, and two gold bracelets for her arms weighing ten shekels, about three and a half ounces. He asked her, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room in your father’s house for us to stay?”
“I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor and Milcah,” she said. And she added, “We have plenty of straw and feed, and room for you to spend the night.”
The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord. “Praise the Lord!” he said. “The God of my master Abraham has not stopped being kind and faithful to my master. And as for me, the Lord has guided me on my journey right to the home of my master’s relatives.”
The young woman ran home and told her mother’s family all about it. Rebekah had a brother named . Laban had seen the ring in his sister’s nose and the bracelets on her arms, and he had heard her say, “This is what the man said to me.” So he ran out to the spring, to the man, who was standing there by the camels.
“Come in, you who are blessed by the Lord!” Laban said. “Why are you standing out here? I have the house ready for you, and a place for the camels.”
So the man came into the house. The camels were unloaded and given straw and feed, and water was brought so that he and the men with him could wash their feet. Then a meal was set in front of him, but he said, “I won’t eat until I have told you what I came to say.”
“Go ahead,” said Laban.
“I am Abraham’s servant,” he said. “The Lord has blessed my master greatly, and he has become rich. The Lord has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, men and women to serve him, and camels and donkeys. My master’s wife had a son by him when she was old, and my master has given that son everything he owns. My master made me swear an oath. He said, ‘Don’t choose a wife for my son from the Canaanite women. I live in their land, but you must go to my father’s family, my own relatives, and choose a wife for my son there.’ I asked my master, ‘What if the woman won’t come with me?’ He answered, ‘The Lord, whose way I follow, will send his angel with you and see that your journey goes well. You will find a wife for my son among my relatives, from my father’s family. Once you have gone to my relatives, you will be free from my oath. If they won’t give her to you, you are still free from my oath.’
“When I came to the spring today, I prayed, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you are going to make this journey of mine a success, then let it be this way. Here I am, standing by this spring. A young woman will come out to get water, and I will ask her for a little water from her jar. If she says, “Drink, and I’ll get water for your camels too,” let her be the woman the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’ I hadn’t even finished my silent prayer when Rebekah came out, carrying her jar on her shoulder. She went down to fill it at the spring, and I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ Right away she took the jar down from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll give your camels a drink too.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels water too. I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She told me, ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor and Milcah.’ Then I put the nose ring on her, and the bracelets on her arms. I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord, and I gave praise to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham. He had led me on the right road, so that I could take my master’s brother’s granddaughter to be his son’s wife.
“So now, if you are going to be kind and faithful to my master, tell me. If not, tell me that too, so I’ll know which way to turn.”
Laban and Bethuel answered, “This has come from the Lord. We can’t say anything to you, for it or against it. Rebekah is right here. Take her and go, and let her marry your master’s son, as the Lord has said.”
Abraham’s servant heard their answer and bowed down to the ground before the Lord. He brought out jewelry made of silver and of gold, and clothing too, and gave it all to Rebekah. He gave costly gifts to her brother and her mother as well.
After that, he and his men ate and drank, and they stayed there that night. In the morning they got up, and he said, “Let me go back to my master.”
But Rebekah’s brother and mother answered, “Let her stay with us for a few days, at least ten. Then she can go.”
“Don’t hold me back,” he said. “The Lord has given me success on my journey. Send me on my way so I can go to my master.”
“We’ll call the young woman and ask her,” they said. They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”
“I will go,” she said.
So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way with Abraham’s servant and his men. Her nurse went with her, the woman who had cared for her since she was a baby. They blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands upon thousands, and may your offspring take over the city gates of those who hate them.”
Rebekah set out with the young women who served her. They rode on the camels, following the man. And so the servant took Rebekah and went on his way.
Meanwhile Isaac had come from , because he was living in . One evening Isaac went out into the field to meditate, to think quietly. He looked up, and there were camels coming.
Rebekah looked up too, and when she saw Isaac she got off her camel. She asked the servant, “Who is that man walking across the field to meet us?”
“It is my master,” the servant said. So she took her veil and covered herself.
The servant told Isaac all the things he had done. Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he married her. He loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Abraham married another wife. Her name was . She had these sons with him: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, , Ishbak and Shuah. Jokshan’s sons were Sheba and Dedan, and Dedan’s sons were Asshurim, Letushim and Leummim. Midian’s sons were , Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah. All of them were Keturah’s descendants.
Abraham gave everything he owned to Isaac. But the sons of his got gifts from him. While Abraham was still alive, he sent them away from his son Isaac, off to the east, to the lands in the east.
Abraham lived to be 175 years old. Then he breathed his last. He died at a good old age, an old man who had lived a long, full life, and he joined his ancestors.
Isaac and buried their father in the cave of . It is near , in the field of the son of Zohar the Hittite. Abraham had bought that field from the . Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.
After Abraham died, God blessed his son Isaac. Isaac lived near Beer Lahai Roi.
This is the record of Ishmael’s family. Ishmael was Abraham’s son, and his mother was the , Sarah’s servant. These are the names of Ishmael’s sons, in the order they were born: , the oldest, then , Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. These are Ishmael’s sons. They were twelve princes of their peoples, each with his own villages and camps.
Ishmael lived 137 years. Then he breathed his last and died, and he joined his ancestors. His descendants lived in the land from to , near the border of Egypt, on the way to . Ishmael lived across from all his relatives.