Study Desk

At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army,^(m) said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.⁽ⁿ⁾

Swear to me by God here and now, that you will not break an agreement with me or with my children and descendants. As I have been loyal to you, so you will be loyal to me and to the country where you are a foreign resident."

And Abraham said, "I swear it."

But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the water well that Abimelech's servants had seized.^(o)

Abimelech replied, "I don't know who did this thing. You didn't report anything to me, so I hadn't heard about it until today."

Abraham took sheep and cattle^[i] and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.^(p)

Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock.

And Abimelech said to Abraham, "Why have you separated these seven ewe lambs?"

He replied, "You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand so that this act^[j] will serve as my witness that I dug this well."

Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba^[k](q) because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.

After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.

Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God.^(r)

And Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines for many days.

After these things God tested Abraham^(a) and said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he answered.

"Take your son," He said, "your only son Isaac, whom you love,^(b) go to the land of Moriah,^(c) and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

So Abraham got up early in the morning,^(d) saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about.

On the third day^(e) Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we'll come back to you."

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac.^(f) In his hand he took the fire and the sacrificial knife,^[a] and the two of them walked on together.

Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, "My father." And he replied, "Here I am, my son." Isaac said, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

Abraham answered, "God Himself will provide^[b](g) the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." Then the two of them walked on together.

When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac^[c] and placed him on the altar^(h) on top of the wood.

Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" He replied, "Here I am."

Then He said, "Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me."⁽ⁱ⁾

Abraham looked up and saw a ram^[d] caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide,^[e] so today it is said: "It will be provided^[f] on the Lord 's mountain."

Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven

and said, "By Myself I have sworn,"^(j) this is the Lord 's declaration: "Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son,^[g]

I will indeed bless you^(k) and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky^(l) and the sand on the seashore.^(m) Your offspring will possess the gates of their enemies.⁽ⁿ⁾

And all the nations of the earth will be blessed^[h] by your offspring^(o) because you have obeyed My command."

Abraham went back to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham settled in Beer-sheba.

Now after these things Abraham was told, "Milcah also has borne sons to your brother Nahor:^(p)

Uz his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel the father of Aram,

Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel."

And Bethuel fathered Rebekah.^(q) Milcah bore these eight to Nahor, Abraham's brother.

His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were all the years of her life.

Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron^(a)) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites:^[a]

"I am a foreign resident among you.^(b) Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead."^[b](c)

The Hittites replied to Abraham,^[c]

"Listen to us, lord.^[d] You are God's chosen one^[e] among us. Bury your dead in our finest burial place.^[f] None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead."

Then Abraham rose and bowed down to the Hittites, the people of the land.

He said to them, "If you are willing for me to bury my dead, listen to me and ask Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf

to give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me in your presence, for the full price, as a burial place."

Ephron was sitting among the Hittites. So in the presence^[g] of all the Hittites who came to the gate of his city,^(d) Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham:

"No, my lord. Listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence^[h] of my people. Bury your dead."

Abraham bowed down to the people of the land

and said to Ephron in the presence^[i] of the people of the land, "Please listen to me. Let me pay the price of the field. Accept it from me, and let me bury my dead there."

Ephron answered Abraham and said to him,

"My lord, listen to me. Land worth 400 shekels of silver^(e)—what is that between you and me? Bury your dead."

Abraham agreed with Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver that he had agreed to in the presence^[j] of the Hittites: 400 shekels of silver at the current commercial rate.^(f)

So Ephron's field^(g) at Machpelah near Mamre—the field with its cave and all the trees anywhere within the boundaries of the field—became

Abraham's possession in the presence of all the Hittites who came to the gate of his city.

After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

The field with its cave passed from the Hittites to Abraham^(h) as a burial place.

Abraham was now old, getting on in years,^[a](a) and the Lord had blessed him in everything.

Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his household who managed all he owned, "Place your hand under my thigh,^(b)

and I will have you swear by the Lord , God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,^(c)

but will go to my land and my family to take a wife for my son Isaac."

The servant said to him, "Suppose the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I have your son go back to the land you came from?"

Abraham answered him, "Make sure that you don't take my son back there.

The Lord , the God of heaven,^(d) who took me from my father's house and from my native land,^(e) who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring'^(f)—He will send His angel before you,^(g) and you can take a wife for my son from there.

If the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are free from this oath to me,^(h) but don't let my son go back there."

So the servant placed his hand under his master Abraham's thigh and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

The servant took 10 of his master's camels and departed with all kinds of his master's goods in hand. Then he set out for Nahor's town Aram-naharaim.

He made the camels kneel beside a well of water outside the town at evening. This was the time when the women went out to draw water.

" Lord , God of my master Abraham," he prayed, "give me success today,⁽ⁱ⁾ and show kindness to my master Abraham.

I am standing here^(j) at the spring where the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw water.

Let the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your water jug so that I may drink,' and who responds, ‘Drink, and I'll water your camels also'—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master."

Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah—daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah,^(k) the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor—coming with a jug on her shoulder.

Now the girl was very beautiful,^(l) a young woman who had not known a man intimately. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up.

Then the servant ran to meet her and said, "Please let me have a little water from your jug."

She replied, "Drink, my lord." She quickly lowered her jug to her hand and gave him a drink.

When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, "I'll also draw water for your camels until they have had enough to drink."^[b]

She quickly emptied her jug into the trough and hurried to the well again to draw water. She drew water for all his camels

while the man silently watched her to see whether or not the Lord had made his journey a success.

After the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, and for her wrists two bracelets weighing 10 shekels of gold.

"Whose daughter are you?" he asked. "Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?"

She answered him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor."

She also said to him, "We have plenty of straw and feed and a place to spend the night."

Then the man bowed down, worshiped the Lord ,^(m)

and said, "Praise the Lord , the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld His kindness and faithfulness from my master.⁽ⁿ⁾ As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives."