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sword to sacrifice his son. And behold an angel of the Lord called to him, saying: "Abraham, Abraham!" And he answered: "Here I am." And he said to him: "Lay not thy hand upon the boy, neither do thou any thing to him; now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy only-begotten son for My sake." Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram amongst the briers, sticking fast by the horns, which he took and offered for a holocaust instead of his son. And he called the name of that place "The Lord seeth."

And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, saying: "By Mine own self have I sworn, saith the Lord, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thine only-begotten son for My sake, 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; and in THY SEED shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed My voice."

§ 10. The Death and Burial of Sara.

Sara, at the age of a hundred and twenty-seven years, died in the city of Arbee in Hebron in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to mourn and weep for her. And after the funeral sacrifices were over, he spoke to the children of Heth, saying: "I am a stranger and sojourner among you; give me the right of a burying-place with you, that I may bury dead." The children of Heth answered, saying:

my

"My lord, hear us; thou art a prince of God among us, bury thy dead in our principal sepulchres, and no man shall have power to hinder thee from burying thy dead in his sepulchre." Abraham rose up and bowed to the children of Heth, and said to them: "If it be pleasing to you that I should bury my dead, intercede for me to Ephron the son of Seor, that he may give me the double cave that he hath in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it to me in your presence, for a possession of a buryingplace." Now Ephron dwelt in the midst of the children of Heth. And Ephron made answer to Abraham, in the hearing of

all that went in at the gate of the city, saying: "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." Abraham bowed down before the people of the land and 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

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my dead." And Ephron answered: "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." And when Abraham heard it, he weighed out the money that Ephron had asked in the hearing of the children of Heth, four hundred pieces of silver, common current money. 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, were 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 the city.

And Abraham buried Sara his wife in the double cave that looketh towards Mambre, which he bought for a possession to bury in from the children of Heth.

§ 11. The Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca.

Now Abraham was old and advanced in age, and the Lord had blessed him in all things. And he said to the elder servant of his house, who was ruler over all that he had: "Swear to me, by the God of heaven and earth, that thou take not a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell; but that thou go to my own country and kindred, and take a wife from thence for my son Isaac." 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?" And Abraham said: "Beware thou never bring my son

back again thither. The Lord God of heaven, who took me out of my father's house and out of my native

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country, who spoke to me, and swore to me, saying: To thy seed will I give this land,' He will send His angel before thee, and thou shalt take from thence a wife for my son.

But if the woman will not follow thee, thou shalt not be bound by the oath; only bring not my son back thither again." The servant therefore did as Abraham his lord required, and swore to him.

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. And when he had made the camels lie down without the town near a well of water in the evening, about the time when women are wont to come out to draw water, he said: "O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, hear me to-day, I beseech Thee, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, I stand nigh the spring of water, and the daughters of the inhabitants of this city will come out to draw water; 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; by this I shall understand that Thou hast showed kindness to my master."

He had not yet ended these words within himself, and behold Rebecca came out, the daughter of Bathuel and grand-daughter of Nachor the brother of Abraham, having her pitcher on her shoulder, an exceeding comely maiden; and she went down to the spring and filled her