NLT One Year Bible - Flipbook - Page 39
35
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.”
12Abraham 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.”
14Ephron 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 suggested—400 pieces ofsilver, weighed according to the market standard. The
Hittite elders witnessed the transaction.
17So 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. 18It 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). 20So the field and the
cave were transferred from the Hittites
to Abraham for use as a permanent
burial place.
24:1Abraham
was now a very old man,
and the Lord had blessed him in every
way. 2One 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. 4Go 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
J A N U A R Y
1 0
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.
8If 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 Aramnaharaim. There he went to the town
where Abraham’s brother Nahor had
settled. 11He 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. 14This 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
Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham’s
brother Nahor and his wife, Milcah.
16Rebekah 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.
17Running over to her, the servant said,
