DaySpring Hope & Encouragement Bible - Flipbook - Page 48
G enesis 24
30
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 Abra
ham agreed to Ephron’s price and paid the amount he had
suggested—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 Machpe
lah, 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 Abra
ham 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.
A Wife for Isaac
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 from home? Should I then take Isaac there to live among
your relatives in the land you came from?”
6 “No!” Abraham 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 Abraham’s camels with all kinds of expensive gifts from his
master, and he traveled to distant Aram-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, Abraham,” 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 Isaac’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 Be
thuel, who was the son of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife, Milcah.
24
23:15 Hebrew 400 shekels, about 10 pounds or 4.6 kilograms in weight; also in 23:16.
24:7 Hebrew seed; also in 24:60.
