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Genesis 24

1Abraham was old, advanced in years, and Yahweh had blessed Abraham in everything. 2Abraham said to his slave, the elder of his house who ruled over everything he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh, 3and I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live. 4Instead, go to my land and my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” 5The slave said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land you left?” 6Abraham said to him, “Take care that you do not take my son back there. 7Yahweh, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’—he will send his messenger before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. 8If the woman is not willing to follow you, you will be free from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” 9The slave put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.

10The slave took ten camels from his master's camels and went, with all kinds of his master's good things in his hand. He rose and went to Aram-naharaim, to Nahor's city. 11He made the camels kneel outside the city beside the well of water at evening, the time when women go out to draw water. 12He said, “Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, please bring about an encounter for me today, and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. 13Look, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the city's men are coming out to draw water. 14Let the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please lower your jar so that I may drink,’ and who says, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels’—let her be the one you have appointed for your slave Isaac. By her I will know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”

15Before he had finished speaking, look, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She had been born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother. 16The young woman was very beautiful, a virgin whom no man had known. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. 17The slave ran to meet her and said, “Please let me sip a little water from your jar.” 18She said, “Drink, my lord.” She hurried to lower her jar onto her hand and gave him a drink. 19When she finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw for your camels too, until they finish drinking.” 20She hurried to empty her jar into the trough, ran again to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. 21The man watched her in silence, to learn whether Yahweh had made his journey successful or not. 22When the camels finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a beka and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold. 23He said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?” 24She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son Milcah bore to Nahor.” 25She said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and fodder, and also room to spend the night.” 26The man bowed his head and bowed down to Yahweh. 27He said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his steadfast love and faithfulness toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has guided me on the way to the house of my master's brothers.”

28The young woman ran and told her mother's household about these things. 29Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the spring. 30When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrists, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, “This is what the man said to me,” he came to the man, and look, he was standing by the camels at the spring. 31He said, “Come in, blessed of Yahweh! Why are you standing outside, when I have cleared the house and a place for the camels?” 32The man entered the house. The camels were unloaded, straw and fodder were given to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men with him. 33Food was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have spoken my words.” He said, “Speak.”

34He said, “I am Abraham's slave. 35Yahweh has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male slaves and female slaves, camels and donkeys. 36Sarah, my master's wife, bore my master a son after she had grown old, and he has given him everything he has. 37My master made me swear, saying, ‘You must not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live. 38Instead, go to my father's house and my clan, and take a wife for my son.’ 39I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’ 40He said to me, ‘Yahweh, before whom I have walked, will send his messenger with you and make your journey successful. You will take a wife for my son from my clan and my father's house. 41Then you will be free from my oath-curse, when you come to my clan. If they do not give her to you, you will be free from my oath-curse.’

42“Today I came to the spring and said, ‘Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, if you will please make successful the journey I am taking— 43look, I am standing by the spring of water—let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I say, “Please give me a little water from your jar,” 44and who says to me, “Drink yourself, and I will draw for your camels too”—let her be the woman Yahweh has appointed for my master's son.’ 45Before I had finished speaking in my heart, look, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, went down to the spring, and drew water. I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ 46She hurried to lower her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ I drank, and she also watered the camels. 47I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘Bethuel's daughter, the son Nahor had by Milcah.’ I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. 48I bowed my head and bowed down to Yahweh and blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me by a faithful way to take my master's brother's daughter for his son. 49Now, if you will show steadfast love and faithfulness toward my master, tell me; if not, tell me, so that I may turn to the right or to the left.”

50Laban and Bethuel answered, “The matter has come from Yahweh. We cannot speak to you bad or good. 51Look, Rebekah is before you. Take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as Yahweh has spoken.” 52When Abraham's slave heard their words, he bowed to the ground before Yahweh. 53The slave brought out silver objects, gold objects, and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. He gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother. 54They ate and drank, he and the men with him, and spent the night. They rose in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.” 55Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us some days, or ten; afterward she may go.” 56He said to them, “Do not delay me, since Yahweh has made my journey successful. Send me away so that I may go to my master.” 57They said, “Let us call the young woman and ask her herself.” 58They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.” 59They sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, Abraham's slave and his men. 60They blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands! May your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them!”

61Rebekah and her young women rose, mounted the camels, and followed the man. The slave took Rebekah and went. 62Isaac had come from the direction of Beer-lahai-roi; he was living in the land of the Negev. 63Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. He lifted his eyes and looked, and look, camels were coming. 64Rebekah lifted her eyes and saw Isaac, and she got down from the camel. 65She said to the slave, “Who is that man walking in the field to meet us?” The slave said, “He is my master.” She took the veil and covered herself. 66The slave recounted to Isaac everything he had done. 67Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

Translation notes 6

24:2–9 — Slave; oath. The unnamed household elder rules Abraham's possessions but remains his slave. The hand under the thigh is an oath gesture, likely involving the reproductive region; the text does not explain its symbolism. The wife's willingness to travel is an explicit condition, while Isaac is expressly not to return to Abraham's former land.

24:12–27 — Encounter; signs. The requested encounter links hospitality to the sought wife; the text does not present a universal technique for discovering God's will. Rebekah is called both a young woman and a virgin, with her lack of sexual experience expressly stated. The beka is half a shekel by weight; the jewelry is not priced in modern currency.

24:28–33 — Household; food. The report goes to Rebekah's mother's household. In verse 32 the Hebrew leaves the agents of unloading and providing uncertain; the draft uses passives without claiming that the guest did all the hosting. Verse 33 follows the reading tradition's passive, “was set,” rather than the ambiguous written form.

24:34–49 — Recounted speech. The long retelling preserves repetitions and small differences from the earlier account. At verse 43 a different Hebrew term means young woman; it does not itself state virginity, which verse 16 has already supplied. “Brother's daughter” uses broad kinship language: Rebekah is Nahor's granddaughter. The oath-curse names the liability attached to an oath, not a separate curse pronounced on Rebekah.

24:50–60 — Response; departure. “Bad or good” expresses inability to oppose or alter the matter. The proposed delay in verse 55 is uncertain: a few days, about ten, is a common understanding; a much longer period has also been proposed. Rebekah answers the question about leaving with the man; the draft retains her voice without describing the scene as either a modern marriage procedure or total absence of agency.

24:62–67 — Field; comfort. Isaac's activity is expressed by a rare verb: meditate, pray, and stroll are major interpretations. “Meditate” is provisional. The direction-of-arrival wording in verse 62 is difficult. The last verse literally says that Isaac was comforted “after his mother”; the draft supplies “death,” understood from chapter 23, to make the ellipsis clear.