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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Genesis 24 GNT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/genesis/24.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/genesis/24-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GNT</a> > Genesis 24</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../genesis/23.htm" title="Genesis 23">◄</a> Genesis 24 <a href="../genesis/25.htm" title="Genesis 25">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Good News Translation</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s">A Wife for Isaac</h3><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_1"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.1" class="v0_24_1">1</span>Abraham was now very old, and the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had blessed him in everything he did. </span><span class="v0_24_2"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.2" class="v0_24_2">2</span>He said to his oldest servant, who was in charge of all that he had, “Place your hand between my thighs<a href="#fn" id="link_Gen.24.2!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> and make a vow. </span><span class="v0_24_3"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.3" class="v0_24_3">3</span>I want you to make a vow in the name of the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not choose a wife for my son from the people here in Canaan. </span><span class="v0_24_4"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.4" class="v0_24_4">4</span>You must go back to the country where I was born and get a wife for my son Isaac from among my relatives.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_5"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.5" class="v0_24_5">5</span>But 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?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_6"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.6" class="v0_24_6">6</span>Abraham answered, “Make sure that you don't send my son back there! </span><span class="v0_24_7"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.7" class="v0_24_7">7</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span>, 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. </span><span class="v0_24_8"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.8" class="v0_24_8">8</span>If 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.” </span><span class="v0_24_9"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.9" class="v0_24_9">9</span>So the servant put his hand between the thighs of Abraham, his master, and made a vow to do what Abraham had asked.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_10"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.10" class="v0_24_10">10</span>The 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. </span><span class="v0_24_11"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.11" class="v0_24_11">11</span>When 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. </span><span class="v0_24_12"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.12" class="v0_24_12">12</span>He prayed, “<span class="nd">Lord</span>, God of my master Abraham, give me success today and keep your promise to my master. </span><span class="v0_24_13"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.13" class="v0_24_13">13</span>Here I am at the well where the young women of the city will be coming to get water. </span><span class="v0_24_14"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.14" class="v0_24_14">14</span>I 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.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_15"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.15" class="v0_24_15">15</span>Before 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. </span><span class="v0_24_16"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.16" class="v0_24_16">16</span>She was a very beautiful young woman and still a virgin. She went down to the well, filled her jar, and came back. </span><span class="v0_24_17"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.17" class="v0_24_17">17</span>The servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a drink of water from your jar.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_18"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.18" class="v0_24_18">18</span>She said, “Drink, sir,” and quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and held it while he drank. </span><span class="v0_24_19"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.19" class="v0_24_19">19</span>When he had finished, she said, “I will also bring water for your camels and let them have all they want.” </span><span class="v0_24_20"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.20" class="v0_24_20">20</span>She 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. </span><span class="v0_24_21"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.21" class="v0_24_21">21</span>The man kept watching her in silence, to see if the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had given him success.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_22"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.22" class="v0_24_22">22</span>When 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. </span><span class="v0_24_23"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.23" class="v0_24_23">23</span>He said, “Please tell me who your father is. Is there room in his house for my men and me to spend the night?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_24"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.24" class="v0_24_24">24</span>“My father is Bethuel son of Nahor and Milcah,” she answered. </span><span class="v0_24_25"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.25" class="v0_24_25">25</span>“There is plenty of straw and fodder at our house, and there is a place for you to stay.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_26"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.26" class="v0_24_26">26</span>Then the man knelt down and worshiped the <span class="nd">Lord</span>. </span><span class="v0_24_27"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.27" class="v0_24_27">27</span>He said, “Praise the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, the God of my master Abraham, who has faithfully kept his promise to my master. The <span class="nd">Lord</span> has led me straight to my master's relatives.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_28"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.28" class="v0_24_28">28</span>The young woman ran to her mother's house and told the whole story. </span><span class="v0_24_29"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.29" class="v0_24_29">29</span>Now Rebecca had a brother named Laban, and he ran outside to go to the well where Abraham's servant was. </span><span class="v0_24_30"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.30" class="v0_24_30">30</span>Laban 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, </span><span class="v0_24_31"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.31" class="v0_24_31">31</span>and said, “Come home with me. You are a man whom the <span class="nd">Lord</span> 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.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_32"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.32" class="v0_24_32">32</span>So 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. </span><span class="v0_24_33"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.33" class="v0_24_33">33</span>When food was brought, the man said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_33">Laban said, “Go on and speak.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_34"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.34" class="v0_24_34">34</span>“I am the servant of Abraham,” he began. </span><span class="v0_24_35"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.35" class="v0_24_35">35</span>“The <span class="nd">Lord</span> 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. </span><span class="v0_24_36"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.36" class="v0_24_36">36</span>Sarah, my master's wife, bore him a son when she was old, and my master has given everything he owns to him. </span><span class="v0_24_37"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.37" class="v0_24_37">37</span>My 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. </span><span class="v0_24_38"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.38" class="v0_24_38">38</span>Instead, go to my father's people, to my relatives, and choose a wife for him.’ </span><span class="v0_24_39"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.39" class="v0_24_39">39</span>And I asked my master, ‘What if she will not come with me?’ </span><span class="v0_24_40"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.40" class="v0_24_40">40</span>He answered, ‘The <span class="nd">Lord</span>, 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. </span><span class="v0_24_41"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.41" class="v0_24_41">41</span>There 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.’</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_42"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.42" class="v0_24_42">42</span>“When I came to the well today, I prayed, ‘<span class="nd">Lord</span>, God of my master Abraham, please give me success in what I am doing. </span><span class="v0_24_43"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.43" class="v0_24_43">43</span>Here 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. </span><span class="v0_24_44"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.44" class="v0_24_44">44</span>If 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.’ </span><span class="v0_24_45"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.45" class="v0_24_45">45</span>Before 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.’ </span><span class="v0_24_46"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.46" class="v0_24_46">46</span>She 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. </span><span class="v0_24_47"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.47" class="v0_24_47">47</span>I 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. </span><span class="v0_24_48"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.48" class="v0_24_48">48</span>I knelt down and worshiped the <span class="nd">Lord</span>. I praised the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, 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. </span><span class="v0_24_49"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.49" class="v0_24_49">49</span>Now, if you intend to fulfill your responsibility toward my master and treat him fairly, please tell me; if not, say so, and I will decide what to do.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_50"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.50" class="v0_24_50">50</span>Laban and Bethuel answered, “Since this matter comes from the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, it is not for us to make a decision. </span><span class="v0_24_51"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.51" class="v0_24_51">51</span>Here is Rebecca; take her and go. Let her become the wife of your master's son, as the <span class="nd">Lord</span> himself has said.” </span><span class="v0_24_52"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.52" class="v0_24_52">52</span>When the servant of Abraham heard this, he bowed down and worshiped the <span class="nd">Lord</span>. </span><span class="v0_24_53"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.53" class="v0_24_53">53</span>Then he brought out clothing and silver and gold jewelry, and gave them to Rebecca. He also gave expensive gifts to her brother and to her mother.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_54"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.54" class="v0_24_54">54</span>Then 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.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_55"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.55" class="v0_24_55">55</span>But Rebecca's brother and her mother said, “Let her stay with us a week or ten days, and then she may go.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_56"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.56" class="v0_24_56">56</span>But he said, “Don't make us stay. The <span class="nd">Lord</span> has made my journey a success; let me go back to my master.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_57"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.57" class="v0_24_57">57</span>They answered, “Let's call her and find out what she has to say.” </span><span class="v0_24_58"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.58" class="v0_24_58">58</span>So they called Rebecca and asked, “Do you want to go with this man?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_58">“Yes,” she answered.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_59"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.59" class="v0_24_59">59</span>So they let Rebecca and her old family servant go with Abraham's servant and his men. </span><span class="v0_24_60"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.60" class="v0_24_60">60</span>And they gave Rebecca their blessing in these words:</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v0_24_60">“May you, sister, become the mother of millions!</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v0_24_60">May your descendants conquer the cities of their enemies!”</span></p><p class="m"><span class="v0_24_61"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.61" class="v0_24_61">61</span>Then Rebecca and her young women got ready and mounted the camels to go with Abraham's servant, and they all started out.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_62"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.62" class="v0_24_62">62</span>Isaac had come into the wilderness of<a href="#Gen.24.62!f.1" id="link_Gen.24.62!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> “The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me” and was staying in the southern part of Canaan. </span><span class="v0_24_63"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.63" class="v0_24_63">63</span>He went out in the early evening to take a walk in the fields and saw camels coming. </span><span class="v0_24_64"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.64" class="v0_24_64">64</span>When Rebecca saw Isaac, she got down from her camel </span><span class="v0_24_65"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.65" class="v0_24_65">65</span>and asked Abraham's servant, “Who is that man walking toward us in the field?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_65">“He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her scarf and covered her face.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_24_66"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.66" class="v0_24_66">66</span>The servant told Isaac everything he had done. </span><span class="v0_24_67"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.24.67" class="v0_24_67">67</span>Then 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.</span></p><a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">24.2: </char><char style="fk" closed="false">Place … thighs: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">This was the way in which a vow was made absolutely unchangeable.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">24.62: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Some ancient translations </char><char style="fq" closed="false">into the wilderness of; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Hebrew </char><char style="fq" closed="false">from coming.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.</span></p> <p class="yiv9003199930MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Bible text from the Good News Translation (GNT) is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by American Bible Society, 101 North Independence Mall East, Floor 8, Philadelphia, PA 19106-2155 (<a href="http://www.americanbible.org">www.americanbible.org</a>). Learn more at <a href="http://www.gnt.bible">www.gnt.bible</a> . 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