And the servant said unto him, "Peradventure the woman will not be
willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again
unto the land from whence thou camest?"
And Abraham said to him, "Beware thou that thou bring not my son
thither again. The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my
father's house, and from the land of my nativity, and that spoke unto
me, and that swore unto me, saying, 'Unto thy family will I give this
land'; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt {50} take a
wife for my son from thence. And if the woman be not willing to follow
thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath; only thou shalt not
bring my son thither again."
And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master,
and swore to him concerning this matter. And the servant took ten
camels, of the camels of his master, and departed; having all goodly
things of his master's in his hand: and he arose, and went to
Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. And he made the camels kneel down
outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time
that women go out to draw water.
And he said, "O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, send me, I pray
thee, good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.
Behold, I stand by the fountain of water; and the daughters of the men
of the city come out to draw water: and let it come to pass, that the
maiden to whom I shall say, 'Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I
may drink'; and she shall say, 'Drink, and I will give thy camels
drink also': let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy
servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness
unto my master.'"
And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold,
Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife
of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And
the maiden was very fair to look upon, and she went down to the
fountain, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to
meet her, and said, "Give me to drink, I pray thee, a little water out
of thy pitcher."
{51}
And she said, "Drink, my lord": and she hasted, and let down her
pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.
And when she had done giving him drink, she said, "I will draw for thy
camels also, until they have done drinking."
And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again
unto the well to draw, and drew for all his camels. And the man looked
steadfastly on her; holding his peace, to know whether the Lord had
made his journey prosperous or not.
And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man
took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her
hands of ten shekels weight of gold; and said, "Whose daughter art
thou? tell me, I pray thee. Is there room in thy father's house for us
to lodge in?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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