Genesis of Ethics: Sarah’s Son Finds Comfort

               
Genesis 24: 1      Now Avraham was old, advanced in days,
        and Yhwh had blessed Avraham in everything.
2      Avraham said to his servant, the elder of his household, who ruled over
        all that was his:
        Pray put your hand under my thigh!
3      I want you to swear by Yhwh, the God of Heaven and the
       God of Earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the women of
       the Canaanites, among whom I am settled;
4      rather, you are to go to my land and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son, for Yitzhak.
5      The servant said to him:
        Perhaps the woman will not be willing to go after me to this land;
        may I then bring your son back there,
        back to the land from which you once went out?
6      Avraham said to him:
        Watch out that you do not ever bring my son back there!
7      Yhwh, the God of Heaven,
        who took me from my father’s house and from my kindred,
        who spoke to me,
        who swore to me, saying:
        I give this land to your seed—
        he himself will send his messenger on before you,
        so that you take a wife for my son from there.
8      Now if the woman is not willing to go after you,
        you will be clear from this sworn-oath of mine,
        only: You are not to bring my son back there!
9      The servant put his hand under the thigh of Avraham his lord,
        and swore to him (an oath) about this matter.
10      The servant took ten camels from his lord’s camels and went, all kinds of good-things from
        his lord in his hand.
        He arose and went to Aram Of-Two-Rivers, to Nahor’s town.
11     He had the camels kneel outside the town at the water well
        at setting time, at the time when the water-drawers go out,
12     and said:
           Yhwh, God of my lord Avraham,
        pray let it happen today for me, and deal faithfully with my lord Avraham!
13      Here, I have stationed myself by the water spring as the women of the town go out to draw
        water.
14      May it be
        that the maiden to whom I say: Pray lower your pitcher that I may drink,
        and she says: Drink, and I will also give your camels to drink—
        let her be the one that you have decided on for your servant, for Yitzhak,
        by means of her may I know that you have dealt faithfully with my lord.
15      And it was: Not yet had he finished speaking,
        when here, Rivka came out,
        —she had been born to Betuel, son of Milca, wife of Nahor, brother of Avraham—
        her pitcher on her shoulder.
16      The maiden was exceedingly beautiful to look at,
        a virgin—no man had known her.
        Going down to the spring, she filled her pitcher and came up again.
17      The servant ran to meet her and said:
        Pray let me sip a little water from your pitcher!
18      She said:
        Drink, my lord!
        And in haste she let down her pitcher on her arm and gave him
        to drink.
19     When she had finished giving him to drink, she said:
        I will also draw for your camels, until they have finished drinking.
20     In haste she emptied her pitcher into the drinking-trough,
        then she ran to the well again to draw,
        and drew for all his camels.
21      The man kept staring at her,
        (waiting) silently to find out whether Yhwh had granted success to his journey or not.
22     It was, when the camels had finished drinking,
        that the man took a gold nose-ring, a half-coin in weight, and two bracelets for her
        wrists, ten gold-pieces in weight,
23      and said:
        Whose daughter are you? Pray tell me!
        And is there perhaps in your father’s house a place for us to spend the night?
24      She said to him:
        I am the daughter of Betuel, son of Milca, whom she bore to Nahor.
25      And she said to him:
        Yes, there is straw, yes, plenty of fodder with us, (and) yes, a place to spend the night.
26      In homage the man bowed low before Yhwh
27      and said:
        Blessed be Yhwh, God of my lord Avraham,
        who has not relinquished his faithfulness and his trustworthiness from my lord!
        While as for me, Yhwh has led me on the journey to the house
        of my lord’s brothers!
28      The maiden ran and told her mother’s household according to these words.
29      Now Rivka had a brother, his name was Lavan.
        Lavan ran to the man, outside, to the spring:
30      and it was,
        as soon as he saw the nose-ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists,
           
            [and as soon as he heard Rivka his sister’s words, saying: Thus the man spoke to me,
            that he came out to the man—there, he was still standing by the camels, by the spring—
31                    and]

                                            [He] said:
        Come, you who are blessed by Yhwh, why are you standing outside?

                                    [I myself have cleared out the house and a place for the camels!
32         The man came into the house and unbridled the camels,
             they gave straw and fodder to the camels
             and water for washing his feet and the feet of the men that were with him.]

                        33      (Food) was put before him to eat, but he said:
        I will not eat until I have spoken my words.
        He said: Speak!
34     He said:
        I am Avraham’s servant.
35      Yhwh has blessed my lord exceedingly, so that he has become great,
        he has given him sheep and oxen, silver and gold, servants and maids, camels and donkeys.
36      Sara, my lord’s wife, bore my lord a son after she had grown old,
        and he has given him all that is his.

                       [37      Now my lord had me swear, saying:
             You are not to take a wife for my son from the women of the Canaanites, in whose land I am settled!
38          No! To my father’s house you are to go, to my clan,
              and take a wife for my son.
39           I said to my lord:
              Perhaps the woman will not go after me!
40           He said to me:
              Yhwh, in whose presence I have walked, will send his messenger with you,
              he will grant success to your journey,
              so that you take a wife for my son from my clan and from my
              father’s house.
41           Only then will you be clear from my oath-curse:
               When you come to my clan,
               if they do not give her to you, you will be clear from my
               oath-curse.
42           Now I came to the well today and said:
               Yhwh, God of my lord Avraham,
               pray, if you wish to grant success to the journey on which I am going,
43           here: I have stationed myself by the water spring;
               may it be
               that the girl who comes out to draw,
                to whom I say: Pray give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,
44             and she says to me: You drink, and I will also draw for your camels—
                let her be the woman whom Yhwh has decided on for the son of my lord.
45            (And) I, even before I had finished speaking in my heart,
               here, Rivka came out, her pitcher on her shoulder,
               she went down to the spring and drew.
                I said to her: Pray give me to drink!
46            In haste she let down her pitcher from herself and said:
                Drink, and I will also give your camels to drink.
                I drank, and she also gave the camels to drink.
47            Then I asked her, I said: Whose daughter are you?
                She said: The daughter of Betuel, son of Nahor, whom Milca bore to him.
                I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists,
48             and in homage I bowed low before Yhwh, and blessed Yhwh, God of my lord Avraham,
                who led me on the true journey to take the daughter of my lord’s brother for his son.]

                       49          So now, if you wish to deal faithfully and truly with my lord, tell me,
            and if not, tell me,
            that I may (know to) turn right or left.
50         Lavan and Betuel answered, they said:
            The matter has come from Yhwh;
            we cannot speak anything to you evil or good.
51        Here is Rivka before you,
           take her and go, that she may be a wife for the son of your lord,
           as Yhwh has spoken.

                        [52        It was
                 when Avraham’s servant heard their words, that he bowed to the ground before Yhwh.
53             And the servant brought out objects of silver and objects of gold and garments, and gave them to Rivka,
                 and he gave presents to her brother and to her mother.
54             They ate and drank, he and the men that were with him, and spent the night.
                 When they arose at daybreak,] 

                                                                                            he said:
         Send me off to my lord.
55      But her brother and her mother said:
         Let the maiden stay with us a few days, perhaps ten—after that she may go.
56      He said to them:
         Do not delay me, for Yhwh has granted success to my journey;
         send me off, that I may go back to my lord.
57      They said:
         Let us call the maiden and ask (for an answer from) her own mouth.
        They called Rivka and said to her:
        Will you go with this man?
        She said:
        I will go.
59      They sent off Rivka their sister with her nurse, and Avraham’s servant with his men,
60      and they gave Rivka farewell-blessing and said to her:
         Our sister, may you become thousandfold myriads!
         May your seed inherit the gate of those who hate him!
61      Rivka and her maids arose, they mounted the camels and went after the man.
         The servant took Rivka and went away.
62      Now Yitzhak had come from where you come to the Well of the Living-One
         Who-Sees-Me—for he had settled in the Negev.
63      And Yitzhak went out to stroll [to urinate] in the field around the turning of sunset.
         He lifted up his eyes and saw: here, camels coming!
64      Rivka lifted up her eyes and saw Yitzhak;
65      she got down from [fell off] the camel and said to the servant:
         Who is the man over there that is walking in the field to meet us?
         The servant said:
         That is my lord.
         She took a veil and covered herself.
66      Now the servant recounted to Yitzhak all the things that he had done.
67      Yitzhak brought her into the tent of Sara his mother,
         he took Rivka and she became his wife, and he loved her.
         Thus was Yitzhak comforted after his mother.

                  Genesis 25: 1   Now Avraham had taken another wife, her name was Ketura.
2      She bore him Zimran and Yokshan, Medan and Midyan, Yishbak and Shuah.

                       [3     Yokshan begot Sheva and Dedan,
          Dedan’s sons were the Ashurites, the Letushites, and the Leummites.
4        Midyan’s sons (were) Efa, Efer, Hanokh, Avida, and Eldaa.
          All these (were) Ketura’s sons.]

                       5      But Avraham gave over all that was his to Yitzhak.
6      And to the sons of the concubines that Avraham had, Avraham gave gifts, and he sent them
        away from Yitzhak his son while he was still alive, eastward, to the Eastland.
7      Now these are the days and years of the life of Avraham, which he lived:
8      A hundred years and seventy years and five years, then he expired.
        Avraham died at a good ripe-age, old

                                                                                                [and satisfied (in days),
            and was gathered to his kinspeople.]

                       9      Yitzhak and Yishmael his sons buried him, in the cave of Makhpela, in the field of Efron son
        of Tzohar the Hittite, that faces Mamre,
10     the field that Avraham had acquired from the Sons of Het.
        There were buried Avraham and Sara his wife.
11      Now it was after Avraham’s death, that God blessed Yitzhak his son.
         And Yitzhak settled by the Well of the Living-One Who-Sees-Me.
12      Now these are the begettings of Yishmael son of Avraham, whom Hagar the
         Egyptian-woman, Sara’s maid, bore to Avraham.

                      [13     And these are the names of the sons of Yishmael, by their names after (the order of) their begettings:
14        Yishmael’s firstborn, Nevayot; and Kedar, Adbe’el, Mivsam, Mishma, Duma, Massa,
15        Hadad and Teima, Yetur, Nafish and Kedma.
16        These are the sons of Yishmael, these their names, in their villages and in their corrals,]

                                                                                                                                      twelve leaders for their tribes.

Translation: The Schocken Bible © Everett Fox

The Schochen Bible
The Genesis of Ethics