Bible Reading Plan – Day 7

₁Abraham was now very old, and the LORD had blessed him in everything he did. ₂He said to his oldest servant, who was in charge of all that he had, “Place your hand between my thighs and make a vow. ₃I want you to make a vow in the name of the LORD, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not choose a wife for my son from the people here in Canaan. ₄You must go back to the country where I was born and get a wife for my son Isaac from among my relatives.”

₅But the servant asked, “What if the young woman will not leave home to come with me to this land? Shall I send your son back to the land you came from?”

₆Abraham answered, “Make sure that you don't send my son back there! ₇The LORD, the God of heaven, brought me from the home of my father and from the land of my relatives, and he solemnly promised me that he would give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel before you, so that you can get a wife there for my son. ₈If the young woman is not willing to come with you, you will be free from this promise. But you must not under any circumstances take my son back there.” ₉So the servant put his hand between the thighs of Abraham, his master, and made a vow to do what Abraham had asked.

₁₀The servant, who was in charge of Abraham's property, took ten of his master's camels and went to the city where Nahor had lived in northern Mesopotamia. ₁₁When he arrived, he made the camels kneel down at the well outside the city. It was late afternoon, the time when women came out to get water. ₁₂He prayed, “LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today and keep your promise to my master. ₁₃Here I am at the well where the young women of the city will be coming to get water. ₁₄I will say to one of them, ‘Please, lower your jar and let me have a drink.’ If she says, ‘Drink, and I will also bring water for your camels,’ may she be the one that you have chosen for your servant Isaac. If this happens, I will know that you have kept your promise to my master.”

₁₅Before he had finished praying, Rebecca arrived with a water jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham's brother Nahor and his wife Milcah. ₁₆She was a very beautiful young woman and still a virgin. She went down to the well, filled her jar, and came back. ₁₇The servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a drink of water from your jar.”

₁₈She said, “Drink, sir,” and quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and held it while he drank. ₁₉When he had finished, she said, “I will also bring water for your camels and let them have all they want.” ₂₀She quickly emptied her jar into the animals' drinking-trough and ran to the well to get more water, until she had watered all his camels. ₂₁The man kept watching her in silence, to see if the LORD had given him success.

₂₂When she had finished, the man took an expensive gold ring and put it in her nose and put two large gold bracelets on her arms. ₂₃He said, “Please tell me who your father is. Is there room in his house for my men and me to spend the night?”

₂₄“My father is Bethuel son of Nahor and Milcah,” she answered. ₂₅“There is plenty of straw and fodder at our house, and there is a place for you to stay.”

₂₆Then the man knelt down and worshipped the LORD. ₂₇He said, “Praise the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has faithfully kept his promise to my master. The LORD has led me straight to my master's relatives.”

₂₈The young woman ran to her mother's house and told the whole story. ₂₉Now Rebecca had a brother named Laban, and he ran outside to go to the well where Abraham's servant was. ₃₀Laban had seen the nose-ring and the bracelets on his sister's arms and had heard her say what the man had told her. He went to Abraham's servant, who was standing by his camels at the well, ₃₁and said, “Come home with me. You are a man whom the LORD has blessed. Why are you standing out here? I have a room ready for you in my house, and there is a place for your camels.”

₃₂So the man went into the house, and Laban unloaded the camels and gave them straw and fodder. Then he brought water for Abraham's servant and his men to wash their feet. ₃₃When food was brought, the man said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.”

Laban said, “Go on and speak.”

₃₄“I am the servant of Abraham,” he began. ₃₅“The LORD has greatly blessed my master and made him a rich man. He has given him flocks of sheep and goats, cattle, silver, gold, male and female slaves, camels, and donkeys. ₃₆Sarah, my master's wife, bore him a son when she was old, and my master has given everything he owns to him. ₃₇My master made me promise with a vow to obey his command. He said, ‘Do not choose a wife for my son from the young women in the land of Canaan. ₃₈Instead, go to my father's people, to my relatives, and choose a wife for him.’ ₃₉And I asked my master, ‘What if she will not come with me?’ ₄₀He answered, ‘The LORD, whom I have always obeyed, will send his angel with you and give you success. You will get for my son a wife from my own people, from my father's family. ₄₁There is only one way for you to be free from your vow: if you go to my relatives and they refuse you, then you will be free.’

₄₂“When I came to the well today, I prayed, ‘LORD, God of my master Abraham, please give me success in what I am doing. ₄₃Here I am at the well. When a young woman comes out to get water, I will ask her to give me a drink of water from her jar. ₄₄If she agrees and also offers to bring water for my camels, may she be the one that you have chosen as the wife for my master's son.’ ₄₅Before I had finished my silent prayer, Rebecca came with a water jar on her shoulder and went down to the well to get water. I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ ₄₆She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels. ₄₇I asked her, ‘Who is your father?’ And she answered, ‘My father is Bethuel son of Nahor and Milcah.’ Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms. ₄₈I knelt down and worshipped the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me straight to my master's relative, where I found his daughter for my master's son. ₄₉Now, if you intend to fulfil your responsibility towards my master and treat him fairly, please tell me; if not, say so, and I will decide what to do.”

₅₀Laban and Bethuel answered, “Since this matter comes from the LORD, it is not for us to make a decision. ₅₁Here is Rebecca; take her and go. Let her become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD himself has said.” ₅₂When the servant of Abraham heard this, he bowed down and worshipped the LORD. ₅₃Then he brought out clothing and silver and gold jewellery, and gave them to Rebecca. He also gave expensive gifts to her brother and to her mother.

₅₄Then Abraham's servant and the men with him ate and drank, and spent the night there. When they got up in the morning, he said, “Let me go back to my master.”

₅₅But Rebecca's brother and her mother said, “Let her stay with us a week or ten days, and then she may go.”

₅₆But he said, “Don't make us stay. The LORD has made my journey a success; let me go back to my master.”

₅₇They answered, “Let's call her and find out what she has to say.” ₅₈So they called Rebecca and asked, “Do you want to go with this man?”

“Yes,” she answered.

₅₉So they let Rebecca and her old family servant go with Abraham's servant and his men. ₆₀And they gave Rebecca their blessing in these words:

₆₂Isaac had come into the wilderness of “The Well of the Living One who Sees Me” and was staying in the southern part of Canaan. ₆₃He went out in the early evening to take a walk in the fields and saw camels coming. ₆₄When Rebecca saw Isaac, she got down from her camel ₆₅and asked Abraham's servant, “Who is that man walking towards us in the field?”

“He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her scarf and covered her face.

₆₆The servant told Isaac everything he had done. ₆₇Then Isaac brought Rebecca into the tent that his mother Sarah had lived in, and she became his wife. Isaac loved Rebecca, and so he was comforted for the loss of his mother.

₁Abraham married another wife, whose name was Keturah. ₂She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ₃Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan, and the descendants of Dedan were the Asshurim, the Letushim, and the Leummim. ₄The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were Keturah's descendants.

₅Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac; ₆but while he was still alive, he gave presents to the sons his other wives had borne him. Then he sent these sons to the land of the East, away from his son Isaac.

_7-8Abraham died at the ripe old age of 175. ₉His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in Machpelah Cave, in the field east of Mamre that had belonged to Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. ₁₀It was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites; both Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried there. ₁₁After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near “The Well of the Living One who Sees Me”.

₁₂Ishmael, whom Hagar, the Egyptian slave of Sarah, bore to Abraham, ₁₃had the following sons, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ₁₄Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ₁₅Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ₁₆They were the ancestors of twelve tribes, and their names were given to their villages and camping places. ₁₇Ishmael was 137 years old when he died. ₁₈The descendants of Ishmael lived in the territory between Havilah and Shur, to the east of Egypt on the way to Assyria. They lived apart from the other descendants of Abraham.

₁₉This is the story of Abraham's son Isaac. ₂₀Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel (an Aramean from Mesopotamia) and sister of Laban. ₂₁Because Rebecca had no children, Isaac prayed to the LORD for her. The LORD answered his prayer, and Rebecca became pregnant. ₂₂She was going to have twins, and before they were born, they struggled against each other in her womb. She said, “Why should something like this happen to me?” So she went to ask the LORD for an answer.

₂₃The LORD said to her,

₂₄The time came for her to give birth, and she had twin sons. ₂₅The first one was reddish, and his skin was like a hairy robe, so he was named Esau. ₂₆The second one was born holding on tightly to the heel of Esau, so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

₂₇The boys grew up, and Esau became a skilled hunter, a man who loved the outdoor life, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home. ₂₈Isaac preferred Esau, because he enjoyed eating the animals Esau killed, but Rebecca preferred Jacob.

₂₉One day while Jacob was cooking some bean soup, Esau came in from hunting. He was hungry ₃₀and said to Jacob, “I'm starving; give me some of that red stuff.” (That is why he was called Edom.)

₃₁Jacob answered, “I will give it to you if you give me your rights as the firstborn son.”

₃₂Esau said, “All right! I am about to die; what good will my rights do me then?”

₃₃Jacob answered, “First make a vow that you will give me your rights.”

Esau made the vow and gave his rights to Jacob. ₃₄Then Jacob gave him some bread and some of the soup. He ate and drank and then got up and left. That was all Esau cared about his rights as the firstborn son.