And as they drew near the place he took the wood from the ass and laid it on I-saac's back, and took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two went up the mount. Now I-saac did not know what the Lord had told A-bra-ham to do, nor why his fa-ther took him up to the mount. And he said, Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb? And A-bra-ham said, My son, God will give us the lamb we need. And when they came to the place, A-bra-ham piled up the stones and put the wood on them, and bound I-saac and laid him on the wood. Then he drew forth the knife to kill his son. And just then a voice from the sky cried out, A-bra-ham! A-bra-ham! And A-bra-ham said, Here am I. And the Lord told him to do no harm to I-saac, for now he knew that A-bra-ham loved him, since he would not spare his own dear son if it was God's wish that he should give him up. And as A-bra-ham turned his head he saw a ram that was caught in a bush, and he took the ram and laid it on the wood, and burnt it in-stead of his son. At the end of a few years A-bra-ham went to live at Heb-ron. And Sa-rah died there. When I-saac grew up to be a man, A-bra-ham did not wish him to take a wife from the land of Ca-naan where they served strange gods. So he sent one of his men to the land where he used to live to bring back a wife for I-saac. And as he drew near to a large town in that land he made his cam-els kneel down by a well. And it was the time of day when the wo-men of the place went out to draw wa-ter from the well. And the man whom A-bra-ham had sent, asked God to help him, and to let him know which one of them was to be I-saac's wife. And he said he would ask one of them for a drink, and if she was kind and gave him a drink, and let his cam-els quench their thirst, then he should know that she was the one God chose to be the wife of A-bra-ham's son. [Illustration: RE-BEK-AH AT THE WELL.] And he raised his heart to God and said, O Lord God of A-bra-ham, give me good speed this day. And while he yet spoke a fair young maid named Re-bek-ah went down to the well and came up with the jar she had filled. And the man ran to meet her, and said to her, Let me drink, I pray thee. And she said, Drink, my Lord, and held the jar in her hand so that he could drink with ease. Then she said, I will give thy cam-els a drink; and she went down to the well and drew for all the cam-els. And the man stood still, and was yet in doubt if this was the maid whom God chose to be I-saac's wife. And as soon as the cam-els had drunk their fill, the man took a gold ear-ring, and two bands of gold for the wrists, and gave them to Re-bek-ah. And he said, Whose child art thou? tell me, I pray thee. And is there room in thy sire's house for us to lodge in? The maid said that her sire's name was Beth-u-el, and that there was no lack of straw and food, and there was room in the house where he and his men might lodge.