24
Abraham gets a wife for Isaac
1 Right from the start, God was good to Abraham. And now that Abraham was really old he wanted to find a wife for his son Isaac. 2-3 Abraham had a special worker that looked after everything that Abraham owned. One day, Abraham said to his worker, “I want you to find a wife for my son Isaac.
My countrymen have a promise ceremony and this is what we do when we make a strong promise. Come here and put your hand on my leg and promise me that you will not get a wife for my son from the Canaanite families in this country. I want you to say that promise out loud so that the God who made heaven and earth hears what you say and is a witness. 4 You see, I want you to go back to my homeland, and get a wife for Isaac from my relatives.”
5 The worker asked, “What if the woman does not want to leave her homeland and come here. What do you want me to do then? Maybe I could send Isaac back there to find a wife for himself.”
6 Abraham answered, “No way! Make sure you do not take Isaac back to my homeland. 7 The God who made Heaven told me to leave my country and all my relations. He led me to this country and made a strong promise to me. He said, ‘I will give this country to all the family that comes from you’. +
God will send an angel to help you find the right woman for Isaac.+ 8 But if the woman God shows you does not want to leave her homeland and come here to marry Isaac, you are free from your promise to me and to God. But I tell you again. You must not take my son back to my homeland.” 9 So the worker did what Abraham asked him to do. He put his hand on Abraham's leg and said out loud, “I promise to go and find a wife for Isaac from your countrymen. And I promise that I will never take Isaac out of this country.”
10 Then the worker took 10 camels to carry all the presents for Abraham's relations. The worker travelled east and a little bit north towards the place where Abraham's brother Nahor lived. Nahor's town was in a country called Meso-pot-aim-ia. This is between the 2 great rivers called the Tigris and You-Fray-tees.
11 The worker and his camels walked for many days until they got to the town where Nahor lived. Abraham's worker made the camels get down on their knees to rest at a waterhole just outside the town. When it was nearly night time, the young girls from the town came out to the waterhole to get water in their billycans. 12 Then the worker prayed. He said, “O God, you are the one who looks after my boss Abraham, please be kind to him today. 13 I am standing next to this waterhole and all the young girls from the town are coming out to get water. Please help me pick the right girl for Abraham's son, Isaac.
14 I will say to one of them, ‘Can you give me a drink?’ If she says ‘Yes,’ and if she says, ‘I will give your camels a drink too’, then I will know that she is the girl you have picked for Isaac. And I will know that you have been very kind to my boss, Abraham.”
15 The worker was still praying when Rebekah walked out of the town with a big billycan on her shoulder. Rebekah's father was named Bethuel and his parents were Milcah and Nahor. And Nahor was Abraham's brother. 16 Rebekah was a very beautiful young girl who had never gone to bed with a man.
She went down into the waterhole, filled up her billycan with water and started to walk back up. 17 Abraham's worker ran to her and said, “Can I have a drink of water from your billycan?”
18 Rebekah answered, “Yes, my master, please have a drink.” And she gave him the billycan. 19 When Abraham's worker finished his drink, Rebekah said, “Wait, I will get water for your camels too.” 20 Then she went quickly and put the rest of the water from the billycan into a big water bucket to let the camels have a drink. She went back to the waterhole to get water again and again, until all the camels finished drinking. 21 Abraham's worker was standing quietly next to the waterhole. He was watching to see if God had answered his prayers and led him to the right girl for Isaac to marry.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, Abraham's worker got out a gold nose ring and 2 gold arm bands, and gave them to Rebekah. 23 He asked Rebekah, “Who is your father? Is there somewhere we can camp at your place?”
24 Rebekah answered, “My father's name is Bethuel. And my grandparents are Milcah and Nahor. 25 We have plenty of room and food for you and your camels.”
26 Abraham's worker bowed down to show respect for the Lord. 27 He said, “Thank you God. Lord, you are so good. You have kept your promise and you have been very kind to my boss, Abraham. You have led me to his relations.”
28-30 Rebekah ran home to tell everyone in her mother's camp about the man at the waterhole and showed them the ring and arm bands. When Rebekah's brother Laban heard her story and saw the gold ring and gold bands on her arms, he ran back to the waterhole and found Abraham's worker still standing with his camels. 31 Laban said to Abraham's worker, “God has been good to you. He has kept you safe and led you to our camp. Don't stand out here at the waterhole but come home and stay with us. We have plenty of room for your camels.”
32 Abraham's worker and his men followed Laban to his camp. They took everything off the camels and gave the camels food to eat and grass to sleep on. The worker and his men were given some water so that they could wash their feet. 33 Then Rebekah's brother Laban gave them some food. But Abraham's worker said, “I cannot eat until I tell you why I came here.”
Laban said to him, “Ok, tell us why you are here.”
34 Abraham's worker said, “I work for Abraham. 35 And God has been really good to him, he is a rich man now. God has given him a lot of sheep and cattle, camels and donkeys as well as a lot of men and women that work for him. He has a lot of money too. 36 Abraham's wife, Sarah was really old when God made a way for her to give Abraham a son, and so Abraham has given him everything. 37 But Abraham was worried about getting a wife for his son, and so he made me make a promise out loud so that God was a witness. I had to say, ‘I will not get a wife for Isaac from any of the families in the Canaanite country where Abraham lives.’ 38 Abraham said to me, ‘You have to go to my homeland and find my relations. You should be able to find a wife for Isaac there.’
39 But I asked Abraham, ‘What if the young girl will not come with me?’
40-41 Abraham said, ‘I have trusted God for a long time. I know he will send an angel to help you. He will help you find the right girl for Isaac from my father's family. But if the girl's relations will not let her go with you, you will be free from the promise you made to me and to God.’
42 And so, when I got to the waterhole today, I prayed to God and said, ‘O God, I know my boss respects and trusts you. So please help me finish the job he sent me to do.’ 43 I said, ‘God, I am standing next to this waterhole and I will wait for a young girl to come and get water. I will say to her, “Please can I have a drink of water from your billycan?” ’ 44 And if she says to me, ‘Yes, have a drink and I will get water for your camels too,’ then I will know that she is the girl you have picked for Abraham's son.
45 Even before I finished praying, Rebekah came out from your camp with her billycan. She went down and got water from the waterhole. And when she came out I asked her, ‘Please can I have a drink of water from your billycan?’ 46 Straight away she put her billycan down and said, ‘Yes, have a drink and I will get water for your camels too.’ So I had a drink and she gave water to my camels. 47 Then I asked her, ‘Who is your father?’
She answered, ‘My father is Bethuel and his parents are Milcah and Nahor.’ When I heard her say the name Nahor, I knew that God had shown me the right girl and so I put the gold ring in her nose and put the gold bands on her arms. 48 Then I bowed my head and said, ‘Thank you’ to the God that my master Abraham respects. You see, it was God who had led me straight to my master's relatives and to my master's niece. It was God that helped me find a wife for my master's son. 49 And so now you have heard my story. Will you do the right thing for Abraham and be kind to him? Will you let me take Rebekah home with me? If you say no, I will make other plans.”
50 Rebekah's brother Laban and her father Bethuel answered, “We believe your story and we can see that God made all this happen. We cannot change God's plan. 51 Here is Rebekah. Take her to Abraham's country so that she can be Isaac's wife. It is what God wants.” 52 When Abraham's worker heard this, he bowed down and said, “Thank you God.” 53 Then he gave Rebekah some really nice clothes, and pretty things to wear made out of silver and gold. He gave her brother Laban and her mother presents that cost a lot of money.
54 Then Abraham's worker and his men ate their food and went to sleep.
The next morning, Abraham's worker said to everyone, “I think we should start going back to Abraham today.” 55 But Laban and Rebekah's mother said, “Can you let the young girl stay here for 10 more days, and then go?”
56 But Abraham's worker said to them, “God has made everything good so far. Please do not stop me from going back to Abraham today.”
57 So Laban and Rebekah's mother said, “We will talk to Rebekah and ask her what she wants to do.” 58 They asked Rebekah, “Are you ready to go with this man and marry Isaac?”
Rebekah answered, “Yes I am ready. I will go.” 59-61 Then Rebekah's family asked God to give Rebekah good things and make her strong,
They said,
“We ask God to give you a lot of children and grandchildren.
We ask God to make your family strong so that they can beat any people who try to fight them.”
And so, Laban and all Rebekah's family said goodbye to her and they were happy for her to go and marry Isaac.
There was a woman that had looked after Rebekah from the time she was a little girl. And so when Rebekah got ready to leave her family, she took the woman with her. They climbed up onto their camels, and followed Abraham's worker as he left the camp.
62 Back in Canaan, Isaac left his camp in a place called Beer La-hai Roy and went south to live in that dry country called The Negev. 63 As Isaac was walking out in the paddocks late one day, he looked up and saw a big mob of camels coming towards him. 64-65 Rebekah looked up too and saw Isaac. She got down off her camel and asked Abraham's worker, “Who is that man walking over there?”
The worker answered, “That is Abraham's son, Isaac.”
Rebekah got some cloth and covered her face. In her culture, that is what young girls did when they saw the man they were going to marry.
66 Then Abraham's worker told Isaac everything that happened.
67 Isaac married Rebekah and took her to live in the tent that his mother Sarah used to live in. And so, Rebekah was now Isaac's wife and he loved her. Isaac was very sad about losing his mother, but Rebekah made him happy again.
+ 24:7 Genesis 12:1-3; 13:15; 15:18; 17:8; Exodus 13:5; Deuteronomy 1:8; 34:4 + 24:7 Hebrews 1:14