CHAP. XVIII. done according to the cry that is come to me: or Angels are entertained by Abraham. They fore-whether it be not so, that I may know. ND to him in the vale of AMD the Lord appeareitting at the door of his tent, in the very heat of the day. 2 And when he had lifted up his eyes, there appeared to him three men standing near him: and as soon as he saw them he ran to meet them from the door of his tent, and adored down to the ground. 3 And he said: Lord, if I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away from thy servant: 4 But I will fetch a little water, and wash ye your feet, and rest ye under the tree. 5 And I will set a morsel of bread, and strengthen ye your heart, afterwards you shall pass on: for therefore are you come aside to your servant. And they said: Do as thou hast spoken. 6 Abraham made haste into the tent to Sara, and said to her: Make haste, temper together three measures of flour, and make cakes upon the bearth. 7 And he himself ran to the herd, and took from thence a calf very tender and very good, and gave it to a young man: who made haste and boiled it. 8 He took also butter and milk, and the calf which he had boiled, and set before them: but he stood by them under the tree. 9 And when they had eaten, they said to him: Where is Sara thy wife? He answered: Lo she is in the tent. 10 And he said to him: I will return and come to thee at this time, life accompanying, and Sara thy wife shall have a son. Which when Sara heard, she laughed behind the door of the tent. 11 Now they were both old, and far advanced in years, and it had ceased to be with Sara after the manner of women. 12 And she laughed secretly, saying: After I am grown old, and my lord is an old man, shall I give myself to pleasure? 13 And the Lord said to Abraham: Why did Sara laugh, saying: Shall I who am an old woman bear a child indeed? and went their way to Sodom: but Abraham as 22 And they turned themselves from thence, yet stood before the Lord. 23 And drawing nigh he said: Wilt thou de stroy the just with the wicked! 24 If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish withal? and wilt thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just, if they be therein? 25 Far be it from thee, to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in like case as the wicked, this is not beseeming thee: thou who judgest all the earth, wilt not make this judgment. 26 And the Lord said to him: If I find in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake. 27 And Abraham answered, and said: Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes. 28 What if there be five less than fifty just persons? wilt thou for five and forty destroy the whole city? And he said: I will not destroy it, if I find five and forty. 29 And again he said to him: But if forty be found there, what wilt thou do? He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of forty. 30 Lord, saith he, be not angry I beseech thee, if I speak: What if thirty shall be found there? He answered: I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31 Seeing, saith he, I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord: What if twenty be found there? He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty. 32 I beseech thee, saith he, be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more: What if ten shall be found there? And he said: I will not destroy it for the sake of ten. 33 And the Lord departed, after he had left speaking to Abraham: and Abraham returned to his place. CHAP. XIX. Lot entertaining angels in his house, is delivered from Sodom, which is destroyed: his wife for looking back is turned into a statue of salt. 14 Is there any thing hard to God? according evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of to appointment I will return to thee at this same time, life accompanying, and Sara shall have a 15 Sara denied, saying: I did not laugh; for she was afraid. But the Lord said: Nay: but thou didst laugh. 16 And when the men rose up from thence, they turned their eyes toward Sodom: and Abraham walked with them, bringing them on the way. 17 And the Lord said: Can I hide from Abraham what I am about to do: 18 Seeing he shall become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed? 19 For I know that he will command his children, and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord, and do judgment and justice: that for Abraham's sake the Lord may bring to effect all the things he hath spoken unto him. 20 And the Lord said: The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is multiplied, and their sin is become exceedingly grievous. 21 I will go down* and see whether they have *I will go down, &c. The Lord here accommodates his discourse to the way of speaking and acting amongst men: for he knoweth all things, and needeth not to go any where for information. Note here, that two of the three angels went away immediately for Sodom; whilst the third, who represented the Lord, remained with Abraham. ND the two angels came to Sodom in the the city. And seeing them, he rose up and went to meet them: and worshipped prostrate to the ground, 2 And said: I beseech you, my lords, turn in to the house of your servant, and lodge there: wash your feet, and in the morning you shall go on your way. And they said: No, but we will abide in the street. 3 He pressed them very much to turn in unto him: and when they were come in to his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate: 4 But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house both young and old, all the people together. 5 And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came in to thee at night? bring them out hither that we may know them: 6 Lot went out to them, and shut the door after him, and said: 7 Do not so, I beseech you, my brethren, do not commit this evil. 8 I have two daughters who as yet have not known man: I will bring them out to you, and abuse you them as it shall please you, so that you do no evil to these men, because they are come in under the shadow of my roof. 9 But they said: Get thee back thither. And again: Thou camest in, said they, as a stranger, was it to be a judge? therefore we will afflict thee more than them. And they pressed very violent ly upon Lot: and they were even at the point of breaking open the doors. 10 And behold the men put out their hand, and drew in Lot unto them, and shut the door: 11 And them, that were without, they struck with blindness from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door. 12 And they said to Lot: Hast thou here any of thine? son-in-law, or sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city: 13 For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them. 14 So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-inlaw that were to have his daughters, and said: Arise: get you out of this place, because the Lord will destroy this city. And he seemed to them to speak as it were in jest. 33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the elder went in, and lay with her father: but he perceived not, neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up. 34 And the next day the elder said to the younger: Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine also to-night, and thou shalt lie with him, that we may save seed of our father. 35 They made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in, and lay with him: and neither then did he perceive when she lay down, nor when she rose up. 36 So the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37 And the elder bore a son, and she called his 15 And when it was morning the angels press-name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites ed him, saying: Arise, take thy wife, and the two unto this day. daughters which thou hast: lest thou also perish 38 The younger also bore a son, and she called in the wickedness of the city. his name Ammon, that is, the son of my people: he is the father of the Ammonites unto this day. CHAP. XX. 16 And as he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him. 17 And they brought him forth, and set him without the city: and there they spoke to him, saying: Save thy life: look not back, neither stay thou in all the country about: but save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed. 18 And Lot said to them: I beseech thee, my Lord, 19 Because thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shown to me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die. 20 There is this city here at hand, to which I may flee, it is a little one, and I shall be saved in it: is it not a little one, and my soul shall live? 21 And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken. 22 Make haste, and be saved there: because I cannot do any thing till thou go in thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Segor.* 23 The sun was risen upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor. 24 And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. 25 And he destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth. 26 And his wifet looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt. 27 And Abraham got up early in the morning, and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord, 28 He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country: and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of furnace. a 29 Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt. 30 And Lot went up out of Segor, and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him (for he was afraid to stay in Segor) and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him. 31 And the elder said to the younger: Our father is old, and there is no man left on the earth, to come in unto us after the manner of the whole earth. 32 Come, let us make him drunk with wine, *Segor. That is, a little one. And his wife. As a standing memorial to the servants of God to proceed in virtue, and not to look back to vice or its allurements. Abraham sojourneth in Gerara: Sara is taken into king Abimelech's house, but by God's commandment is restored untouched. BRAHAM removed from thence to the south country, and dwelt between Cades and Sur: and sojourned in Gerara. 2 And he said of Sara his wife: She is my sisSo Abimelech the king of Gerara sent, and ter. took her. 3 And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and he said to him: Lo thou shalt die for the woman that thou hast taken: for she hath a husband. 4 Now Abimelech had not touched her, and he said: Lord, wilt thou slay a nation that is ignorant and just? 5 Did not he say to me: She is my sister: and she say, He is my brother? in the simplicity of my heart, and cleanness of my hands have I done this. 6 And God said to him: And I know that thou didst it with a sincere heart: and therefore I withheld thee from sinning against me, and I suffered thee not to touch her. 7 Now therefore restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet: and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: but if thou wilt not restore her, know that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine. 8 And Abimelech forthwith rising up in the night, called all his servants: and spoke all these words in their hearing, and all the men were exceedingly afraid. 9 And Abimelech called also for Abraham, and said to him: What hast thou done to us? what have we offended thee in, that thou hast brought upon me and upon my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done to us what thou oughtest not to do. 10 And again he expostulated with him, and said: What sawest thou, that thou hast done this? 11 Abraham answered: I thought with myself, saying: Perhaps there is not the fear of God in this place: and they will kill me for the sake of my wife: 12 Howbeit, otherwise also she is truly my sister, the daughter of my father, and not the daughter of my mother, and I took her to wife. 13 And after God brought me out of my father's house, I said to her: Thou shalt do me this kindness: In every place, to which we shall come, thou shalt say that I am thy brother. 14 And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and servants, and handmaids, and gave to Abraham: and restored to him Sara his wife, 15 And said: The land is before you, dwel wheresoever it shall please thee. 16 And to Sara he said: Behold, I have given cording to the kindness, that I have done to thee, thy brother a thousand pieces of silver, this shall thou shalt do to me, and to the land wherein thou serve thee for a covering of thy eyes to all that hast lived a stranger. are with thee, and whithersoever thou shalt go: and remember thou wast taken. 24 And Abraham said: I will swear. 25 And he reproved Abimelech for a well of 17 And when Abraham prayed, God healed water, which his servants had taken away by Abimelech and his wife, and his handmaids, and force. they bore children: 18 For the Lord had closed up every womb of the house of Abimelech on account of Sara, Abraham's wife. CHAP. XXI. Isaac is born. Agar and Ismael are cast forth. 2 And she conceived and bore a son in her old 4 And he circumcised him the eighth day, as God had commanded him, 5 When he was a hundred years old: for at this age of his father, was Isaac born. 6 And Sara said: God hath made a laughter for me: whosoever shall hear of it will laugh with me. 7 And again she said: Who would believe that Abraham should hear that Sara gave suck to a son, whom she bore to him in his old age? 8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast on the day of his weaning. 9 And when Sara had seen the son of Agar the Egyptian playing with Isaac her son, she said to Abraham, 10 Cast out this bond-woman, and her son: for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac. 11 Abraham took this grievously for his son. 26 And Abimelech answered: I knew not who did this thing: and thou didst not tell me, and I heard not of it till to-day. 27 Then Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech: and both of them made league. 28 And Abraham set apart seven ewe-lambs of the flock. a 29 And Abimelech said to him: What mean these seven-ewe lambs which thou hast set apart? 30 But he said: Thou shalt take seven ewelambs at my hand: that they may be a testimony for me, that I dug this well. 31 Therefore that place was called Bersabee:† because there both of them did swear. 32 And they made a league for the well of oath. 33 And Abimelech, and Phicol the general of his army arose and returned to the land of the Palestines. But Abraham planted a grove in Bersabee, and there called upon the name of the Lord God eternal. 34 And he was a sojourner in the land of the Palestines many days." CHAP. XXII. The faith and obedience of Abraham is proved in his readiness to sacrifice his son Isaac. He is stayed from the act by an angel. Former promises are renewed to him. His brother Nachor's issue. FTER these things, God tempted Abraham, and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And answered: Here I am. 12 And God said to him: Let it not seem he grievous to thee for the boy, and for thy bond- 2 He said to him: Take thy only begotten son woman: in all that Sara hath said to thee, hearken Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of to her voice: for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. vision: and there thou shalt offer him for a holo13 But I will make the son also of the bond-caust upon one of the mountains which I will show woman a great nation, because he is thy seed. thee. 14 So Abraham rose up in the morning, and 3 So Abraham rising up in the night, saddled taking bread and a bottle of water, put it upon her his ass: and took with him two young men, and shoulder, and delivered the boy and sent her Isaac his son: and when he had cut wood for the away. And she departed, and wandered in the holocaust, he went his way to the place which wilderness of Bersabee. God had commanded him." 15 And when the water in the bottle was spent, she cast the boy under one of the trees, that were there. 4 And on the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar off. 5 And he said to his young men: Stay you here with the ass: I and the boy will go with speed as far as yonder, and after we have worshipped, will return to you. 16 And she went her way, and sat over-against him a great way off as far as a bow can carry, for she said: I will not see the boy die: and sitting over-against, she lifted up her voice and wept. 6 And he took the wood for the holocaust, and 17 And God heard the voice of the boy: and laid it upon Isaac his son: and he himself carried an Angel of God called to Agar from heaven, in his hands fire and a sword. And as they two saying: What art thou doing, Agar? fear not: for went on together, God hath heard the voice of the boy, from the place wherein he is. 18 Arise, take up the boy, and hold him by the hand: for I will make him a great nation. 19 And God opened her eyes: and she saw a well of water, and went and filled the bottle, and gave the boy to drink. 20 And God was with him: and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became a young man an archer. 21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Pharan, and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt. 22 At the same time Abimelech, and Phicol the general of his army said to Abraham: God is with thee in all that thou doest. 23 Swear therefore by God, that thou wilt not hurt me, nor my posterity, nor my stock: but ac Isaac. This word signifies laughter. 7 Isaac said to his father: My father. And he answered: What wilt thou, son? Behold, saith he, fire and wood: where is the victim for the holocaust? 8 And Abram said: God will provide himself a victim for a holocaust, my son. So they went on together. 9 And they came to the place which God had shown him, where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it: and when he had bound Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood. † Bersabee. That is, the well of oath. God tempted, &c. God tempteth no mạn to evil, James 1. 13. But by trial and experiment maketh known to the world, and to ourselves, what we are, as here by this trial the singular faith and obedience of Abraham was made manillfest. 10 And he put forth his hand, and took the Abraham in the hearing of all that went in at the sword, to sacrifice his son. gate of the city, saying: 11 And behold an Angel of the Lord from heaven called to him, saying: Abrahain, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am. I 12 And he said to him: Lay not thy hand upon the boy, neither do thou any thing to him: now know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake. 13 Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram amongst the briars sticking fast by the horns, which he took and offered for a holocaust instead of his son. 14 And he called the name of that place, The Lord seeth. Whereupon even to this day it is said: In the mountain the Lord will see. 15 And the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, saying: 16 By my own self have I sworn, saith the Lord: because thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake: 17 I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore: thy seed shall possess the gates of their enemies. 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. 19 Abraham returned to his young men, and they went to Bersabee together, and he dwelt there. 20 After these things, it was told Abraham that Melcha also had born children to Nachor his brother, 21 Hus the first-born, and Buz his brother, and Camuel the father of the Syrians, 22 And Cased, and Azau, and Pheldas, and Jedlaph, 23 And Bathuel, of whom was born Rebecca: these eight did Melcha bear, to Nachor, Abraham's brother. 11 Let it not be so, my lord, but do thou rather hearken to what I say: The field I deliver to thee and the cave that is therein, in the presence of the children of my people; bury thy dead. 12 Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. 13 And he spoke to Ephron, in the presence of the people: I beseech thee to hear me: I will give money for the field: take it, and so I will bury my dead in it. 14 And Ephron answered: 15 My lord, hear me: the ground which thou desirest, is worth four hundred sicles of silver: this is the price between me and thee: but what is this? bury thy dead. 16 And when Abraham had heard this, he weighed out the money, that Ephron had asked, in the hearing of the children of Heth, four hundred sicles of silver of common current money. 17 And the field that before was Ephron's, wherein was the double cave, looking towards Mambre, both it and the cave, and all the trees thereof in all its limits round about, 18 Was made sure to Abraham for a possession, in the sight of the children of Heth, and of all that went in at the gate of his city. 19 And so Abraham buried Sara his wife, in the double cave of the field, that looked towards Mambre; this is Hebron in the land of Chanaan. 20 And the field was made sure to Abraham, and the cave that was in it, for a possession to bury in, by the children of Heth. CHAP. XXIV. Abraham's servant sent by him into Mesopotamia, bringeth from thence Rebecca, who is married to Isaac. 24 And his concubine, named Roma, bore Ta-NOW Abraham was old, and advanced in bee, and Gaham, and Tahas, and Maacha. 2 And she died in the city of Arbee which is Hebron, in the land of Chanaan: and Abraham came to mourn, and weep for her. 3 And after he rose up from the funeral obsequies, he spoke to the children of Heth, saying; 4 I am a stranger and sojourner among you: give me the right of a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead. age: and the Lord had blessed him in all things. 2 And he said to the elder servant of his house, who was ruler over all he had: Put thy hand under my thigh, 3 That I may make thee swear by the Lord the God of heaven and earth, that thou take not a wife for my son, of the daughters of the Chanaanites, among whom I dwell: 4 But that thou go to my own country and kindred, and take a wife from thence for my son Isaac. 5 The servant answered: If the woman will not come with me into this land, must I bring thy son back again to the place, from whence thou camest out? 6 And Abraham said: Beware thou never bring my son back again thither. 5 The children of Heth answered, saying: 6 My lord, hear us, thou art a prince of God 7 The Lord God of heaven, who took me out among us: bury thy dead in our principal sepul- of my father's house, and out of my native counchres: and no man shall have power to hinder try, who spoke to me, and swore to me, saying: thee from burying thy dead in his sepulchre. To thy seed will I give this land: he will send his 7 Abraham rose up, and bowed down to the Angel before thee,t and thou shalt take from people of the land, to wit, the children of Heth: thence a wife for my son. 8 And said to them: If it please your soul that I should bury my dead, hear me, and intercede for me to Ephron the son of Seor, 9 That he may give me the double cave, which he hath in the end of his field: for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me before you, for possession of a burying place. a 10 Now Ephron dwelt in the midst of the children of Heth. And Ephron made answer to *Bowed down to the people. Adoravit, literally adored. But this word here, as well as in many other places in the Latin scriptures is used to signify only an inferior honour and reverence paid to men, expressed by a bowing down of the body. 8 But if the woman will not follow thee, thou shalt not be bound by the oath: only bring not my son back thither again. 9 The servant therefore put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his lord, and swore to him upon this word. 10 And he took ten camels of his master's herd, and departed, carrying something of all his goods with him, and he set forward and went on to Mesopotamia to the city of Nachor. 11 And when he had made the camels lie down without the town near a well of water in the even This He will send his Angel before thee. shows that the Hebrews believed that God gave them Guardian Angels for their protection. ing, at the time when women are wont to come master a son in her old age, and he hath given him out to draw water, he said: all that he had. 12 O Lord the God of my master Abraham, 37 And my master made me swear, saying: meet me to-day, I beseech thee, and show kind-Thou shalt not take a wife for my son of the ness to my master Abraham. Chanaanites, in whose land I dwell: 13 Behold, I stand nigh the spring of water, and the daughters of the inhabitants of this city, will come out to draw water. 14 Now therefore the maid, to whom I shall say: Let down thy pitcher that I may drink: and she shall answer: Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let it be the same whom thou hast provided for thy servant Isaac: and by this I shall understand, that thou hast shown kindness to my master. 15 He had not yet ended these words within himself, and behold, Rebecca came out, the daughter of Bathuel, son of Melcha, wife to Nachor the brother of Abraham, having a pitcher on her shoulder: 16 An exceeding comely maid, and a most beautiful virgin, and not known to man: and she went down to the spring, and filled her pitcher, and was coming back. 17 And the servant ran to meet her, and said: Give me a little water to drink of thy pitcher. 18 And she answered: Drink, my lord. And quickly she let down the pitcher upon her arm, and gave him drink. 38 But thou shalt go to my father's house, and shalt take a wife of my own kindred for my son: 39 But I answered my master: What if the woman will not come with me? 40 The Lord, said he, in whose sight I walk, will send his angel with thee, and will direct thy way: and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my own kindred, and of my father's house. 41 But thou shalt be clear from my curse, when thou shalt come to my kindred, if they will not give thee one. 42 And I came to-day to the well of water, and said: O Lord God of my master Abraham, if thou hast prospered my way, wherein I now walk, 43 Behold, I stand by the well of water, and the virgin, that shall come out to draw water, who shall hear me say: Give me a little water to drink of thy pitcher: 44 And shall say to me: Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman, whom the Lord hath prepared for my master's son. 45 And whilst I pondered these things secretly 19 And when he had drunk, she said: I will with myself, Rebecca appeared coming with a draw water for thy camels also, till they all drink. pitcher, which she carried on her shoulder: and 20 And pouring out the pitcher into the troughs, she went down to the well, and drew water. And she ran back to the well to draw water: and hav-I said to her: Give me a little to drink. ing drawn, she gave to all the camels. 21 But he, musing, beheld her with silence, desirous to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not. 46 And she speedily let down the pitcher from her shoulder, and said to me: Both drink thou, and to thy camels I will give drink. I drank, and she watered the camels." 22 And after that the camels had drunk, the 47 And I asked her, and said: Whose daughter man took out golden ear-rings, weighing two art thou? And she answered: I am the daughter sicles, and as many bracelets of ten sicles weight. of Bathuel, the son of Nachor, whom Melcha 23 And he said to her: Whose daughter art bore to him. So I put ear-rings on her to adorn thou? tell me: is there any place in thy father's her face, and I put bracelets on her hands. house to lodge? 24 And she answered: I am the daughter of Bathuel, the son of Melcha, whom she bore to Nachor. 25 And she said moreover to him: We have good store of both straw and hay, and a large place to lodge in. 26 The man bowed himself down, and adored the Lord, 27 Saying: Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not taken away his mercy and truth from my master, and hath brought me the straight way into the house of my master's brother. 28 Then the maid ran, and told in her mother's house all that she had heard. 48 And falling down I adored the Lord, blessing the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath brought me the straight way to take the daughter of my master's brother for his son. 49 Wherefore if you do according to mercy and truth with my master, tell me: but if it please you otherwise, tell me that also, that I may go to the right hand, or to the left. 50 And Laban and Bathuel answered: The word hath proceeded from the Lord: we cannot speak any other thing to thee but his pleasure. 51 Behold, Rebecca is before thee, take her and go thy way, and let her be the wife of thy master's son, as the Lord hath spoken. 52 Which when Abraham's servant heard, falling down to the ground he adored the Lord. 29 And Rebecca had a brother named Laban, who went out in haste to the man, to the well. 53 And bringing forth vessels of silver, and 30 And when he had seen the ear-rings and gold, and garments, he gave them to Rebecca bracelets in his sister's hands, and had heard all for a present. He offered gifts also to her brothat she related, saying, Thus and thus the man spoke to me: he came to the man who stood by the camels, and near to the spring of water, thers, and to her mother. 54 And a banquet was made, and they ate and drank together, and lodged there. And in the morning the servant arose, and said: Let me depart, that I may go to my master. 31 And said to him: Come in, thou blessed of the Lord: why standest thou without? I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels. 55 And her brother and mother answered: Let 32 And he brought him in into his lodging: the maid stay at least ten days with us, and afterand he unharnessed the camels, and gave straw wards she shall depart. and hay, and water to wash his feet, and the feet of the men that were come with him. 33 And bread was set before him. But he said: I will not eat, till I tell my message. He answered him: Speak. 34 And he said: I am the servant of Abraham: 35 And the Lord hath blessed my master wonderfully, and he is become great: and he hath 56 Stay me not, said he, because the Lord hath prospered my way: send me away that I may go to my master. 57 And they said: Let us call the maid, and ask her will.* 58 And they called her, and when she was * Let us call the maid, and ask her will. Not given him sheep, and oxen, silver and gold, men as to her marriage, as she had already consented, servants and women servants, camels, and asses. but of her quitting her parents, and going to her 36 And Sara my master's wife hath borne my husband. 19 |