The One Year Bible for Women - Flipbook - Page 32
January 10
my lord, you are an honored prince among us.
Choose the finest of our tombs and bury her
there. No one here will refuse to help you in
this way.”
7 Then Abraham bowed low before the Hit
tites 8 and said, “Since you are willing to help
me in this way, be so kind as to ask Ephron son
of Zohar 9 to let me buy his cave at Machpelah,
down at the end of his field. I will pay the full
price in the presence of witnesses, so I will
have a permanent burial place for my family.”
10 Eph
ron was sitting there among the
others, and he answered Abraham as the
others listened, speaking publicly before all
the Hittite elders of the town. 11 “No, my lord,”
he said to Abraham, “please listen to me. I will
give you the field and the cave. Here in the
presence of my people, I give it to you. Go and
bury your dead.”
12 Abraham again bowed low before the citizens of the land, 13 and he replied to Ephron as
everyone listened. “No, listen to me. I will buy
it from you. Let me pay the full price for the
field so I can bury my dead there.”
14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 “My lord,
please listen to me. The land is worth 400 pieces*
of silver, but what is that between friends? Go
ahead and bury your dead.”
16 So Abraham agreed to Ephron’s price and
paid the amount he had s uggested—400 pieces
of silver, weighed according to the market
standard. The Hittite elders witnessed the
transaction.
17 So Abraham bought the plot of land belonging to Ephron at Machpelah, near Mamre.
This included the field itself, the cave that was
in it, and all the surrounding trees. 18 It was
transferred to Abraham as his permanent
possession in the presence of the Hittite elders at the city gate. 19 Then Abraham buried
his wife, Sarah, there in Canaan, in the cave of
Machpelah, near Mamre (also called Hebron).
20 So the field and the cave were transferred
from the Hittites to Abraham for use as a permanent burial place.
24:1 Abraham was now a very old man, and the
Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 One day
Abraham said to his oldest servant, the man
in charge of his household, “Take an oath by
putting your hand under my thigh. 3 Swear by
the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that
you will not allow my son to marry one of
these local Canaanite women. 4 Go instead to
my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife
there for my son Isaac.”
5 The servant asked, “But what if I can’t find
a young woman who is willing to travel so far
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from home? Should I then take Isaac there to
live among your relatives in the land you came
from?”
6 “No!” Abra
ham responded. “Be careful
never to take my son there. 7 For the Lord, the
God of heaven, who took me from my father’s
house and my native land, solemnly promised
to give this land to my descendants.* He will
send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to
it that you find a wife there for my son. 8 If she
is unwilling to come back with you, then you
are free from this oath of mine. But under no
circumstances are you to take my son there.”
9 So the servant took an oath by putting his
hand under the thigh of his master, Abraham.
He swore to follow Abraham’s instructions.
10 Then he loaded ten of Abra
ham’s camels
with all kinds of expensive gifts from his master, and he traveled to distant A
ram-naharaim.
There he went to the town where Abraham’s
brother Nahor had settled. 11 He made the
camels kneel beside a well just outside the
town. It was evening, and the women were
coming out to draw water.
12 “O Lord, God of my master, Abra
ham,”
he prayed. “Please give me success today, and
show unfailing love to my master, Abraham.
13 See, I am standing here beside this spring,
and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water. 14 This is my request. I
will ask one of them, ‘Please give me a drink
from your jug.’ If she says, ‘Yes, have a drink,
and I will water your camels, too!’—let her be
the one you have selected as I saac’s wife. This
is how I will know that you have shown unfailing love to my master.”
15 Before he had finished praying, he saw a
young woman named Rebekah coming out
with her water jug on her shoulder. She was
the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son
of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife,
Milcah. 16 Rebekah was very beautiful and old
enough to be married, but she was still a virgin. She went down to the spring, filled her jug,
and came up again. 17 Running over to her, the
servant said, “Please give me a little drink of
water from your jug.”
18 “Yes, my lord,” she answered, “have a
drink.” And she quickly lowered her jug from
her shoulder and gave him a drink. 19 When
she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw
water for your camels, too, until they have had
enough to drink.” 20 So she quickly emptied her
jug into the watering trough and ran back to
the well to draw water for all his camels.
21 The servant watched her in silence, wondering whether or not the Lord had given him
success in his mission. 22 Then at last, when
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