1 Abraham was old, well along in years, and the LORD had blessed Abraham in everything.
2 Abraham said to his servant, the eldest of his house, who managed all that he owned, "Place your hand, please, under my thigh,
3 and I will have you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,
4 but that you will go to my land and to my relatives and take a wife for my son Isaac."
5 The servant asked him, "What if the woman is unwilling to come with me to this land? Should I then take your son back to the land you came from?"
6 Abraham told him, "Beware of taking my son back there.
7 The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me and swore to me, 'To your seed I will give this land,' he will send his angel ahead of you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.
8 If the woman is unwilling to come with you, you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there."
9 So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore to him about this matter.
10 The servant took ten camels from his master's camels and set out, taking all sorts of his master's goods with him; he got up and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.
11 He made the camels kneel outside the city by the well of water at evening time, the time the women go out to draw water.
12 And he said, "LORD, God of my master Abraham, please let it happen for me today, and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.
13 Here I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.
14 May it be that the girl to whom I say, 'Please tip your jar so I may drink,' and who answers, 'Drink, and I will water your camels too,' is the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown steadfast love to my master."
15 He had not yet finished speaking when Rebekah came out (she was born to Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor) with her jar on her shoulder.
16 The girl was very lovely to look at, a virgin; no man had known her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up.
17 The servant ran to meet her and said, "Please let me have a little water from your jar."
18 She said, "Drink, my lord," and quickly lowered her jar onto her hand and gave him a drink.
19 When she had done giving him a drink, she said, "For your camels too I will draw water, until they have drunk their fill."
20 She hurried and emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw, and drew for all his camels.
21 Meanwhile the man was watching her closely, saying nothing, to find out whether the LORD had made his journey successful or not.
22 When the camels had done drinking, the man took a gold ring of half a shekel in weight and two bracelets for her wrists, ten shekels of gold in weight,
23 and said, "Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please. Is there room in your father's house for us to lodge?"
24 She told him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son Milcah bore to Nahor."
25 And she said to him, "We have straw and feed in plenty, and also room to lodge."
26 The man bowed down and worshiped the LORD,
27 saying, "Blessed is the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withdrawn his steadfast love and his faithfulness from my master. As for me, the LORD has guided me on the way to the house of my master's brothers."
28 The girl ran and told her mother's household all this.
29 Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the spring.
30 When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrists, and when he heard his sister Rebekah's words, "This is what the man said to me," he went out to the man, and there he was, standing beside the camels at the spring.
31 Laban said, "Come in, you who are blessed by the LORD! Why stand outside? I have made the house ready, and a place for the camels."
32 So the man came into the house. The camels were unloaded and given straw and feed, and water was brought for washing his feet and the feet of the men with him.
33 Food was set before him to eat, but he said, "I will not eat until I have told my errand." Laban said, "Tell it."
34 He said, "I am a servant of Abraham.
35 The LORD has blessed my master richly, and he has become great. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, camels and donkeys.
36 Sarah, my master's wife, bore my master a son after she had grown old, and he has given him everything he has.
37 My master made me take an oath: 'You are not to take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live;
38 instead, go to my father's house and to my clan and take a wife for my son.'
39 I said to my master, 'What if the woman will not come with me?'
40 He told me, 'The LORD, in whose presence I have walked, will send his angel with you and make your way successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father's house.
41 Then you will be released from my oath, when you have gone to my clan; and if they will not give her to you, you will be released from my oath.'
42 Today I came to the spring and said, 'LORD, God of my master Abraham, if you will indeed make successful the journey I am on,
43 here I stand beside the spring of water: let it be that the virgin who comes out to draw, to whom I say, "Please let me drink a little water from your jar,"
44 and who says to me, "You drink, and I will draw for your camels too," is the woman the LORD has chosen for my master's son.'
45 I had not yet finished speaking in my heart when Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder; she went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, 'Please let me drink.'
46 She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, 'Drink, and I will water your camels too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels too.
47 I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you?' and she said, 'The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.' Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.
48 And I bowed down and worshiped the LORD, and I blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me on the true way to take the daughter of my master's brother for his son.
49 So now, if you are going to show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so that I may turn to the right or to the left."
50 Laban and Bethuel answered, "This matter comes from the LORD; we cannot say anything to you, bad or good.
51 Here is Rebekah before you. Take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has said."
52 When Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD.
53 Then the servant brought out silver and gold jewelry and clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and her mother.
54 He and the men with him ate and drank and stayed the night. When they got up in the morning, he said, "Send me off to my master."
55 But her brother and her mother said, "Let the girl stay with us some days, say ten; after that she may go."
56 He said to them, "Do not hold me back, now that the LORD has made my journey successful. Send me off so I may go to my master."
57 They said, "We will call the girl and ask what she says."
58 They called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?" She answered, "I will go."
59 So they sent off their sister Rebekah with her nurse, along with Abraham's servant and his men.
60 They blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you become thousands upon ten thousands, and may your seed possess the gate of those who hate him!"
61 Rebekah and her maids got up, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed.
62 Isaac had just come back from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the land of the Negev.
63 Toward evening Isaac went out to meditate in the field; he raised his eyes and looked, and camels were coming.
64 Rebekah raised her eyes and saw Isaac, and she slipped down from the camel.
65 She asked the servant, "Who is that man walking across the field to meet us?" The servant said, "That is my master." So she took her veil and covered herself.
66 The servant told Isaac everything he had done.
67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah; he took Rebekah, she became his wife, and he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.