One Year Pray for America Bible - Flipbook - Page 47
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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 Abra
ham agreed to Eph
ron’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 Abra
ham bought the plot of
land belonging to Ephron at Mach
pe
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
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 Abra
ham
was now a very old
man, and the Lord had blessed him
ham
in
every way. 2 One day Abra
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!” 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
January 10
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 Na
hor 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
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.
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
