|
[1]And the life of Sarah was one hundred and twenty-seven years, and Sarah died; and Avraham rose up from before his dead to seek a burial place to bury his wife Sarah; and he went and spoke to the children of Chet, the inhabitants of the land, saying,
[2]I am a stranger and a sojourner with you in your land; give me a possession of a burial place in your land, that I may bury my dead from before me.
[3]And the children of Chet said unto Avraham, behold the land is before you, in the choice of our land bury your dead, for no man shall withhold you from burying your dead.
[4]And Avraham said unto them, If you are agreeable to this go and entreat for me to Efron, the son of Tzochar, requesting that he may give me the cave of Mak'pelah, which is in the end of his field, and I will purchase it of him for whatever he desire for it.
[5]And Efron dwelt among the children of Chet, and they went and called for him, and he came before Avraham, and Efron said unto Avraham, Behold all you require your servant will do; and Avraham said, No, but I will buy the cave and the field which you have for value, In order that it may be for a possession of a burial place for ever.
[6]And Efron answered and said, Behold the field and the cave are before you, give whatever you desire; and Avraham said, Only at full value will I buy it from your hand, and from the hands of those that go in at the gate of your city, and from the hand of your seed for ever.
[7]And Efron and all his brothers heard this, and Avraham weighed to Efron four hundred shekels of silver in the hands of Efron and in the hands of all his brothers; and Avraham wrote this transaction, and he wrote it and testified it with four witnesses.
[8]And these are the names of the witnesses, Amigal son of Avishua the Hittite, Alichoran son of Ashunash the Hivite, Avdon son of Achira the Gomerite, Akdil the son of Avidish the Tzidonite.
[9]And Avraham took the book of the purchase, and placed it in his treasures, and these are the words that Avraham wrote in the book, saying:
[10]That the cave and the field Avraham bought from Efron the Hittite, and from his seed, and from those that go out of his city, and from their seed for ever, are to be a purchase to Avraham and to his seed and to those that go forth from his loins, for a possession of a burial place for ever; and he put a signet to it and testified it with witnesses.
[11]And the field and the cave that was in it and all that place were made sure unto Avraham and unto his seed after him, from the children of Chet; behold it is before Mamre in Chevron, which is in the land of Kanaan.
[12]And after this Avraham buried his wife Sarah there, and that place and all its boundary became to Avraham and unto his seed for a possession of a burial place.
[13]And Avraham buried Sarah with pomp as observed at the interment of kings, and she was buried in very fine and beautiful garments.
[14]And at her bier was Shem, his sons Ever and Avimelech, together with Anar, Ashkol and Mamre, and all the grandees of the land followed her bier.
[15]And the days of Sarah were one hundred and twentyseven years and she died, and Avraham made a great and heavy mourning for Sarah his wife, and he performed the rites of mourning for seven days.
[16]And all the inhabitants of the land comforted Avraham and Yitz'chak his son on account of Sarah.
[17]And when the days of their mourning passed by Avraham sent away his son Yitz'chak, and he went to the house of Shem and Ever, to learn the ways of YHWH and his traditions, and Avraham remained there three years.
[18]At that time Avraham rose up with all his servants, and they went and returned homeward to B'ersheva, and Avraham and all his servants remained in B'ersheva.
[19]And at the revolution [or "equinox"] of the year Avimelech king of the Philistines died in that year; he was one hundred and ninetythree years old at his death; and Avraham went with his people to the land of the Philistines, and they comforted the whole house and all his servants, and he then turned and went home.
[20]And it was after the death of Avimelech that the people of Gerar took Benmelek his son, and he was only twelve years old, and they made him lying in the place of his father.
[21]And they called his name Avimelech after the name of his father, for thus was it their custom to do in Gerar, and Avimelech reigned instead of Avimelech his father, and he sat upon his throne.
[22]And Lot the son of Charan also died in those days, in the thirty-ninth year of the life of Yitz'chak, and all the days that Lot lived were one hundred and forty years and he died.
[23]And these are the children of Lot, that were born to him by his daughters, the name of the firstborn was Moav, and the name of the second was Ben-Ami.
[24]And the two sons of Lot went and took themselves wives from the land of Kanaan, and they bare children to them, and the children of Moav were Ed, Ma'ayon, Taras'yon [Tarsus], and Kanvil, four sons, these are fathers to the children of Moav unto this day. [24b] And the sons of Ben-Ami: Gerim and Ishon and Rabbot and Tzilon and Eynon and Mayom, six sons, these are the fathers to the children of Ammon to this day. [Moses Samuel seems to have omitted verse 24a. He probably lifted his eyes off of the text remembering the key phrase "to this day" in verse 24 and picked back up with the phrase "to this day" at the end of verse 24a omitting the material between the two identical terms.]
[25]And all the families of the children of Lot went to dwell wherever they should light upon, for they were fruitful and increased abundantly.
[26]And they went and built themselves cities in the land where they dwelt, and they called the names of the cities which they built after their own names.
[27]And Nachor the son of Terach, brother to Avraham, died in those days in the fortieth year of the life of Yitz'chak, and all the days of Nachor were one hundred and seventy-two years and he died and was buried in Charan.
[28]And when Avraham heard that his brother was dead he grieved sadly, and he mourned over his brother many days.
[29]And Avraham called for Eliezer his head servant, to give him orders concerning his house, and he came and stood before him.
[30]And Avraham said to him, Behold I am old, I do not know the day of my death; for I am advanced in days; now therefore rise up, go forth and take a wife for my son from my family and from the house of my father, from Charan. I adjure you by YHWH Elohi of Heaven, do not take a wife for my son from this place and from this land, from the daughters of the Kanaanites among whom we dwell." [Moses Samuel omitted the material between the two occurrences of the phrase "do not take a wife" in this verse.]
[31]But go to my land and to my birthplace, and take from thence a wife for my son, and YHWH Elohi of heaven and earth who took me from my father's house and brought me to this place, and said unto me, To your seed will I give this land for an inheritance for ever, he will send his angel before you and prosper your way, that you may obtain a wife for my son from my family and from my father's house.
[32]And the servant answered his lord Avraham and said, Behold I go to your birthplace and to your father's house, and take a wife for your son from there; but if the woman be not willing to follow me to this land, shall I take your son back to the land of your birthplace?
[33]And Avraham said unto him, Take heed that you bring not my son here again, for YHWH before whom I have walked he will send his angel before you and prosper your way.
[34]And Eliezer did as Avraham ordered him, and Eliezer swore unto Avraham his lord upon this matter; and Eliezer rose up and took ten camels of the camels of his lord, and ten men from his lord's servants with him, and they rose up and went to Charan, the city of Avraham and Nachor, in order to fetch a wife for Yitz'chak the son of Avraham; and while they were gone Avraham sent to the house of Shem and Ever, and they brought from there his son Yitz'chak.
[35]And Yitz'chak came home to his father's house to B'ersheva, while Eliezer and his men came to Charan; and they stopped in the city by the watering place, and he made his camels to kneel down by the water and they remained there.
[36]And Eliezer, Avraham's servant, prayed and said, O YHWH Elohi Adonai of Avraham [Or "YHWH Elohi of my lord Avraham"]; send me I pray you good speed this day and show kindness unto my lord, that you shall appoint this day a wife for my lord's son from his family.
[37]And YHWH hearkened to the voice of Eliezer, for the sake of his servant Avraham, and he happened to meet with the daughter of Betuel, the son of Milkah, the wife of Nachor, brother to Avraham, and Eliezer came to her house.
[38]And Eliezer related to them all his concerns, and that he was Avraham's servant, and they very greatly rejoiced at him.
[39]And they all blessed YHWH who brought this thing about, and they gave him Riv'kah, the daughter of Betuel, for a wife for Yitz'chak.
[40]And the girl was of very comely appearance, she was a virgin, and Riv'kah was ten years old in those days.
[41]And Bethuel and Lavan and his children made a feast on that night, and Eliezer and his men came and ate and drank and rejoiced there on that night.
[42]And Eliezer rose up in the morning, he and the men that were with him, and he called to the whole house of Betuel, saying, Send me away that I may go to my lord; and they rose up and sent away Riv'kah and her nurse Devorah, the daughter of Utz, and they gave her silver and gold, men servants and maid servants, and they blessed her.
[43]And they sent Eliezer away with his men; and the servants took Riv'kah, and he went and returned to his lord to the land of Kanaan.
[44]And Yitz'chak took Riv'kah and she became his wife, and he brought her into the tent.
[45]And Yitz'chak was forty years old when he took Riv'kah, the daughter of his uncle Betuel, for a wife.
|