¹Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the Lᴏʀᴅ had blessed Abraham in all things. ²So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please, put your hand under my thigh, ³and I will make you swear by the Lᴏʀᴅ, 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 dwell; ⁴but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” ⁵And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?” ⁶But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there. ⁷The Lᴏʀᴅ God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. ⁸And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.” ⁹So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter. ¹⁰Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, for all his master’s goods were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. ¹¹And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water. ¹²Then he said, “O Lᴏʀᴅ God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.” ¹⁵And it happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. ¹⁶Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin; no man had known her. And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up. ¹⁷And the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.” ¹⁸So she said, “Drink, my lord.” Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink. ¹⁹And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. ²¹And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether the Lᴏʀᴅ had made his journey prosperous or not. ²²So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold, ²³and said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please, is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?” ²⁴So she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵Moreover she said to him, “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge.” ²⁶Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lᴏʀᴅ. ²⁷And he said, “Blessed be the Lᴏʀᴅ God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lᴏʀᴅ led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” ²⁸So the young woman ran and told her mother’s household these things. ²⁹Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban, and Laban ran out to the man by the well. ³⁰So it came to pass, when he saw the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, “Thus the man spoke to me,” that he went to the man. And there he stood by the camels at the well. ³¹And he said, “Come in, O blessed of the Lᴏʀᴅ! Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels.” ³²Then the man came to the house. And he unloaded the camels, and provided straw and feed for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ³³Food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told about my errand.” And he said, “Speak on.” ³⁴So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. ³⁵The Lᴏʀᴅ has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great; and He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. ³⁶And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and to him he has given all that he has. ³⁷Now my master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell; ³⁸but you shall go to my father’s house and to my family, and take a wife for my son.’ ³⁹And I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’ ⁴⁰But he said to me, ‘The Lᴏʀᴅ, before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house. ⁴¹You will be clear from this oath when you arrive among my family; for if they will not give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’ ⁴²“And this day I came to the well and said, ‘O Lᴏʀᴅ God of my master Abraham, if You will now prosper the way in which I go, ⁴³behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass that when the virgin comes out to draw water, and I say to her, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,” ⁴⁴and she says to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,”—let her be the woman whom the Lᴏʀᴅ has appointed for my master’s son.’ ⁴⁵“But before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah, coming out with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ ⁴⁶And she made haste and let her pitcher down from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels a drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels a drink also. ⁴⁷Then I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the nose ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. ⁴⁸And I bowed my head and worshiped the Lᴏʀᴅ, and blessed the Lᴏʀᴅ God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the way of truth to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. ⁴⁹Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.” ⁵⁰Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing comes from the Lᴏʀᴅ; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. ⁵¹Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as the Lᴏʀᴅ has spoken.” ⁵²And it came to pass, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, that he worshiped the Lᴏʀᴅ, bowing himself to the earth. ⁵³Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. ⁵⁴And he and the men who were with him ate and drank and stayed all night. Then they arose in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.” ⁵⁵But her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us a few days, at least ten; after that she may go.” ⁵⁶And he said to them, “Do not hinder me, since the Lᴏʀᴅ has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master.” ⁵⁷So they said, “We will call the young woman and ask her personally.” ⁵⁸Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.” ⁵⁹So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men. ⁶⁰And they blessed Rebekah and said to her: “Our sister, may you become The mother of thousands of ten thousands; And may your descendants possess The gates of those who hate them.” ⁶¹Then Rebekah and her maids arose, and they rode on the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed. ⁶²Now Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he dwelt in the South. ⁶³And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming. ⁶⁴Then Rebekah lifted her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from her camel; ⁶⁵for she had said to the servant, “Who is this man walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took a veil and covered herself. ⁶⁶And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. ⁶⁷Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

¹Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, ²saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. ⁴For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers ⁵But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. ⁶They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ ⁸But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. ⁹Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. ¹⁰And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. ¹¹But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹²And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. ¹³But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. ¹⁴Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. ¹⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. ¹⁶Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ ¹⁷Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? ¹⁸And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ ¹⁹Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift ²⁰Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. ²¹He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it ²²And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. ²³Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. ²⁴Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! ²⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. ²⁶Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. ²⁷Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. ²⁹Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³²Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. ³³Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? ³⁴Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, ³⁵that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation ³⁷“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁸See! Your house is left to you desolate ³⁹for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”

¹On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God, ²because they had not met the children of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing. ³So it was, when they had heard the Law, that they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel. ⁴Now before this, Eliashib the priest, having authority over the storerooms of the house of our God, was allied with Tobiah. ⁵And he had prepared for him a large room, where previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, the tithes of grain, the new wine and oil, which were commanded to be given to the Levites and singers and gatekeepers, and the offerings for the priests. ⁶But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Then after certain days I obtained leave from the king, ⁷and I came to Jerusalem and discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God. ⁸And it grieved me bitterly; therefore I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room. ⁹Then I commanded them to cleanse the rooms; and I brought back into them the articles of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense. ¹⁰I also realized that the portions for the Levites had not been given them; for each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field. ¹¹So I contended with the rulers, and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their place. ¹²Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse. ¹³And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouse Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah; and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered faithful, and their task was to distribute to their brethren. ¹⁴Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its services! ¹⁵In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions. ¹⁶Men of Tyre dwelt there also, who brought in fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. ¹⁷Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, “What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day? ¹⁸Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” ¹⁹So it was, at the gates of Jerusalem, as it began to be dark before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and charged that they must not be opened till after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰Now the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. ²¹Then I warned them, and said to them, “Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you!” From that time on they came no more on the Sabbath. ²²And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should go and guard the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy! ²³In those days I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. ²⁴And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people. ²⁵So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves. ²⁶Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin. ²⁷Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?” ²⁸And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I drove him from me. ²⁹Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. ³⁰Thus I cleansed them of everything pagan. I also assigned duties to the priests and the Levites, each to his service, ³¹and to bringing the wood offering and the firstfruits at appointed times. Remember me, O my God, for good!

¹Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” ²And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. ³Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?” ⁴And those who stood by said, “Do you revile God’s high priest? ⁵Then Paul said, “I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’ ” ⁶But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!” ⁷And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and the assembly was divided. ⁸For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection—and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both. ⁹Then there arose a loud outcry. And the scribes of the Pharisees’ party arose and protested, saying, “We find no evil in this man; but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.” ¹⁰Now when there arose a great dissension, the commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks. ¹¹But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.” ¹²And when it was day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. ¹³Now there were more than forty who had formed this conspiracy. ¹⁴They came to the chief priests and elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves under a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul ¹⁵Now you, therefore, together with the council, suggest to the commander that he be brought down to you tomorrow, as though you were going to make further inquiries concerning him; but we are ready to kill him before he comes near.” ¹⁶So when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their ambush, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷Then Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him.” ¹⁸So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to say to you.” ¹⁹Then the commander took him by the hand, went aside and asked privately, “What is it that you have to tell me? ²⁰And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask that you bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more fully about him. ²¹But do not yield to them, for more than forty of them lie in wait for him, men who have bound themselves by an oath that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him; and now they are ready, waiting for the promise from you. ²²So the commander let the young man depart, and commanded him, “Tell no one that you have revealed these things to me.” ²³And he called for two centurions, saying, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night; ²⁴and provide mounts to set Paul on, and bring him safely to Felix the governor.” ²⁵He wrote a letter in the following manner: ²⁶Claudius Lysias, To the most excellent governor Felix: Greetings. ²⁷This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them. Coming with the troops I rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman. ²⁸And when I wanted to know the reason they accused him, I brought him before their council. ²⁹I found out that he was accused concerning questions of their law, but had nothing charged against him deserving of death or chains. ³⁰And when it was told me that the Jews lay in wait for the man, I sent him immediately to you, and also commanded his accusers to state before you the charges against him. Farewell. ³¹Then the soldiers, as they were commanded, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. ³²The next day they left the horsemen to go on with him, and returned to the barracks. ³³When they came to Caesarea and had delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. ³⁴And when the governor had read it, he asked what province he was from. And when he understood that he was from Cilicia, ³⁵he said, “I will hear you when your accusers also have come.” And he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s Praetorium.