Genesis 22:1-24:21

Genesis 22:1-24

1 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”² He
said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of
the mountains of which I will tell you.” ³ So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two
of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.⁴ On
the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.⁵ Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here
with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”⁶ Abraham took the wood
of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.⁷ Isaac
spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is
the lamb for the burnt offering?”⁸ Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my
son.” So the two of them walked on together.

⁹ Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged
the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.¹⁰
Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.¹¹
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”¹²
He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld
your son, your only son, from Me.”¹³
Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took
the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.¹⁴
Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”

¹⁵ Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven,¹⁶
and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your
only son,¹⁷
indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore;
and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.¹⁸
In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”¹⁹
So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.

²⁰ Now it came about after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children
to your brother Nahor:²¹ Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram

²² and Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.”²³ Bethuel became the father of Rebekah;
these eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.²⁴ His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah and Gaham
and Tahash and Maacah.

Genesis 23

Now Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. ² Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that
is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. ³ Then Abraham rose from before his dead,
and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, ⁴ “I am a stranger and a sojourner among you; give me a burial site among you that I may bury my
dead out of my sight.” ⁵ The sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, ⁶ “Hear us, my lord, you are a mighty prince among
us; bury your dead in the choicest of our graves; none of us will refuse you his grave for burying your dead.” ⁷ So Abraham rose and bowed
to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. ⁸ And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your wish for me to bury my dead out of
my sight, hear me, and approach Ephron the son of Zohar for me, ⁹ that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he owns, which is at the
end of his field; for the full price let him give it to me in your presence for a burial site.”¹⁰ Now Ephron was sitting among the sons
of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth; even of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying,
¹¹ “No, my lord, hear me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the sons of my people I give it
to you; bury your dead.” ¹² And Abraham bowed before the people of the land. ¹³ He spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people
of the land, saying, “If you will only please listen to me; I will give the price of the field, accept it from me that I may bury my dead
there.” ¹⁴ Then Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, ¹⁵ “My lord, listen to me; a piece of land worth four hundred shekels
of silver, what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.”¹⁶ Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver
which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, commercial standard.

¹⁷ So Ephron’s field, which was in Machpelah, which faced Mamre, the field and cave which was in it, and all the trees which
were in the field, that were within all the confines of its border, were deeded over ¹⁸ to Abraham for a possession in
the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. ¹⁹ After this, Abraham buried Sarah his
wife in the cave of the field at Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰ So the field and the
cave that is in it, were deeded over to Abraham for a burial site by the sons of Heth.

Genesis 24:1-21

Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way. ² Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household,
who had charge of all that he owned, “Please place your hand under my thigh, ³ and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven
and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live,⁴ but you will
go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” ⁵ The 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?” ⁶ Then Abraham said to him, “Beware that you
do not take my son back there! ⁷ The 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, ‘To your descendants I will give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you will take
a wife for my son from there. ⁸ But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this my oath; only do not
take my son back there.” ⁹ So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰ Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and set out with a variety of good things of his master’s in his
hand; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. ¹¹ He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well
of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water. ¹² He said, “O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please grant
me success today, and show loving kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³ Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the
men of the city are coming out to draw water; ¹⁴ now may it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I
may drink,’ and who 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 loving kindness to my master.” ¹⁵ Before he had finished
speaking, behold, Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder.
¹⁶ The girl was very beautiful, a virgin, and no man had had relations with her; and she went down to the spring and filled her
jar and came up. ¹⁷ Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar.” ¹⁸ She
said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ Now when she had finished giving him
a drink, she said, “I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.”²⁰ So she quickly emptied her jar into the
trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. ²¹ Meanwhile, the man was gazing at her in silence, to
know whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.