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And the angel of the Lord called to him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I.

And the angel said, Lay not thy hand on the lad, and do him no harm, for now I know that thou dost love God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.

And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and

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"LAY NOT THY HAND ON THE LAD."

took the ram, and offered him for a burnt offering instead of his son.

And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh, which means, The Lord will provide.

And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham the second time, and told him that because he had done this thing, and been willing to give up his only son, the Lord would bless him and all those who should come after him.

So Abraham went back to the place where he had left his young men, and they all went together to Beer-sheba, where Abraham dwelt at that time.

Sarah died at Hebron, in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn and weep for her. And, as he stood by his dead, he spoke to the sons of Heth and said, I am a stranger and a pilgrim in your midst; let me have a burying-place here, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

The children of Heth said to Abraham, Thou art a mighty prince among us. Choose any sepulchre thou wilt, and bury thy dead there, and none of us will hinder thee.

Abraham stood up, and then bowed low to the people of the land, and said that if Ephron would sell him the cave of Machpelah, which was at the end of his field, he would pay him what he thought it was worth, and bury his dead there.

But Ephron spoke so that all might hear him, and said, The field I give thee, and the cave therein I give to thee, in the presence of the sons of my people. Go, bury thy dead. Abraham bowed again, and said, If thou wilt let me have it, I will buy it of thee. For he would not take it as a gift. Then Ephron told what the land was worth; but still he did not wish to take money for it. But Abraham had the silver weighed out and paid over to Ephron. And the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, and in the borders round about, were made over unto Abraham, for him and his heirs to own forever.

And after this was done, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of Machpelah.

CHAPTER IX.

ISAAC AND REBEKAH

ISAAC was nearly forty years old when his mother died. He grieved for her loss, for she had been a good mother to him, and he was very fond of her. Abraham was now an old

man, and felt that he had not much longer to live. So he called the eldest servant of the house to him, the one who took care of all that he had, and told him to go to Syria where he used to dwell, and get a wife for Isaac. For he must not wed one of the Canaanites.

The servant said to him, Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I needs take thy son with me to the land from whence thou camest?

Abraham said, Take not my son to that land, lest thou bring him not back with thee. The Lord shall send his angel before thee, and thou shall find a wife for my son. And if the woman is not willing to follow thee, then it will be no fault of thine, and I will not hold thee to thy oath.

So the servant took ten of his master's camels, and went to Mesopotamia and to the city where Nahor-Abraham's brother-lived.

The wells were outside of the city's walls, and in the cool of the evening the women went out with their pitchers-which were like jars, and made of skins-and filled them with fresh water for the use of the household.

Abraham's servant made his camels kneel down outside the city by one of the wells, near the time that the women would come out to draw water. And he said, O Lord God, I pray thee send me good speed this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well, and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water. And I will say to one of the damsels, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink. And if she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also, then shall I know that thou hast chosen her to be the wife of Isaac, and hast showed kindness to my master.

And ere he had done speaking, Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Nahor, came out of the city with her pitcher on her shoulder.

She was young and beautiful, and she went down to the well and filled her pitcher, and came up again. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water from thy pitcher.

And she said, Drink, my lord. And she made haste and

let down her pitcher on her hand and gave him drink. And when she had done this she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, till they have done drinking. And she made haste and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again

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to the well to draw water, and drew up enough for all his camels.

And the man was dumb with surprise, and knew not what to think. So when the camels had left off drinking, the servant took a gold earring and two gold bracelets, and gave

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