The Daily Audio Bible

Sarah dies and Abraham buries her

23 Sarah lived for 127 years. ² She died in the land of Canaan, at Kiriath Arba. That place is also called Hebron. Abraham was very sad. He went to her tent and he cried very much, because she was dead.

³ Then Abraham went to the Hittite people and he said to them, ⁴ ‘I am living as a stranger among you. Please, sell me some land here, so that it belongs to me. Then I can use it to bury my wife properly.’

⁵ The Hittites replied, ⁶ ‘Sir, please listen to what we say. We respect you as a great and powerful person. We have good places where we bury our people who have died. Choose the best one that you like. None of us will refuse to give you the place that you choose. Then you will be able to bury your dead wife there.’

⁷ Abraham stood up. He turned his face towards the ground to respect the Hittites who lived in that place. ⁸ He said to them, ‘Since you have agreed to help me, please do this. Speak to Zohar's son, Ephron, for me. ⁹ Ask him to sell the cave of Machpelah to me. It belongs to Ephron. It is at the edge of his field. You will see that I pay the proper price to him. Then it will belong to me. I can bury my family there when they die.’

¹⁰ Ephron was sitting there with his people, at the city gate. He spoke so that all the Hittites could hear him. ¹¹ Ephron said, ‘No sir. Please listen to me. You may take my field as well as the cave. I promise in front of my people that I will give all this to you. Then you can bury your dead wife there.’

¹² Abraham again turned his face towards the ground to respect the people who lived in that place. ¹³ While they were listening, he said to Ephron, ‘Let me say this. I will pay you the price to buy the field. Please accept the money from me. Then I can bury my dead wife there.’

¹⁴ Ephron replied to Abraham, ¹⁵ ‘Listen to me, sir. The land is worth 400 shekels of silver. But the price is not important, because we are friends. Now bury your dead wife there.’^[a]

¹⁶ Abraham agreed to the price that Ephron had asked for. He weighed the correct amount of silver to give to Ephron. The Hittites there knew that it had been done properly. The weight of 400 shekels agreed with the weights that people used at that time.

¹⁷ In that way, Ephron's field in Machpelah, near Mamre, now belonged to Abraham. This included the field, the cave in the field and all the trees in the field as far as its edge. ¹⁸ All the Hittite people who were sitting there at the city gate agreed that Abraham was the new owner.

¹⁹ After this, Abraham buried his wife, Sarah, in the cave in the field of Machpelah. This field was near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. That place is also called Hebron. ²⁰ That is how Abraham bought the field and the cave that was in it from the Hittite people. He bought it so that he could bury there his family who died.

A wife for Isaac

24 Abraham was now a very old man. The Lord had blessed him in every way. ² Abraham had an important servant in his house. He had authority over everything that belonged to Abraham. Abraham said to him, ‘Come here and make a promise to me. Put your hand between my legs to show that I can trust you.^{[b] 3} You must make a serious promise to me in front of the Lord. He is the God who rules both heaven and earth. I am living among the Canaanite people, but you must promise this to me: Do not get a Canaanite woman to be a wife for my son. ⁴ Instead, you must go to my own country. Go to my family there to find a wife for my son Isaac.’

⁵ The servant asked Abraham, ‘What should I do if the woman will not agree? Maybe she will not come back with me to this land? Must I then take your son to the country that you came from?’

⁶ Abraham replied, ‘No! You must never take my son back there. ⁷ The Lord, the God of heaven, took me away from there. He took me out of my father's house. He took me away from the land where my family lives. God made a serious promise to me. He said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” Because God has promised this, he will send his angel to go in front of you. When you arrive there, you will find a woman to marry my son. ⁸ But perhaps the woman will not agree to come back here with you. If that happens, you do not have to keep this promise. But do not take my son back to that land.’ ⁹ So the servant put his hand between Abraham's legs. The servant promised that he would do everything that Abraham had told him.

¹⁰ After that, Abraham's servant left to go on his journey. He took with him ten of his master's camels. He also took many different kinds of valuable gifts that Abraham had given to him.^[c] He travelled towards Aram Naharaim. He arrived in the town of Nahor.^[d]

¹¹ Abraham's servant stopped outside the town. He made the camels go down on their knees near a well. It was the evening time, when women came to the well to get water. ¹² The servant prayed to God. He prayed, ‘Lord, God of Abraham, my master, please be my guide today. Be kind to my master Abraham, as you have promised him. ¹³ See, I am standing here near this well. The daughters of the people who live in the town will come to get water from the well. ¹⁴ I will say to one of the young women, “Please let me have a drink of water from your pot.” If she is the right woman for your servant Isaac to marry, please may she say, “Yes, drink. Then I will give water to your camels also”. If that happens, then I will know that you have kept your promise to my master.’

¹⁵ The servant was still praying when Rebekah came to the well. She had her pot on her shoulder. Rebekah was the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Milcah. Milcah was the wife of Abraham's brother, Nahor. ¹⁶ The young woman was very beautiful. She had not had sex with any man. She went down to the well. She filled her pot with water and she came back up again. ¹⁷ Abraham's servant hurried to meet her. He said, ‘Please give me a little water to drink from your pot.’ ¹⁸ She replied, ‘Yes sir, please drink.’ She quickly took the pot down from her shoulders. She held the pot with her hands and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ After she had done that, she said, ‘Now I will get some water for your camels too. I will do this until they have drunk as much water as they want.’ ²⁰ So Rebekah quickly poured the water from her pot into the place where the animals drank. She ran back to the well to get more water. She did this until the camels had drunk enough. ²¹ Abraham's servant watched the girl, but he did not say anything. He wanted to know if the Lord had helped him to find a wife for Isaac.

²² The camels finished drinking. Then Abraham's servant took out a valuable gold nose ring. It weighed one half shekel. He also took out two large gold rings for Rebekah's arms. They weighed 10 shekels each.

²³ The servant gave them to Rebekah and he asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there a room in your father's house for me and my men to sleep there tonight?’

²⁴ Rebekah replied ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel. Nahor is his father, and Milcah is his mother. ²⁵ We have plenty of grass and food for the camels. And there is a room for you to stay with us for the night.’

²⁶ Then the man turned his face towards the ground. He worshipped the Lord. ²⁷ He said, ‘I praise the Lord who is the God of my master, Abraham. He has been very kind to my master. He has done what he promised to do for him. The Lord has been kind to me too. He has led me here to the house of my master's family.’

²⁸ Rebekah quickly ran back home. She told her mother and her family about what had happened.

²⁹ Rebekah had a brother. His name was Laban. ³⁰ Laban saw the nose ring and the arm rings that Rebekah was wearing. Rebekah told him what the man had said to her. So Laban went out quickly to the well to meet the servant. He found him standing near the well, together with his camels. ³¹ Laban said to him, ‘The Lord has blessed you! You should not continue to stand out here. Come with me. I have prepared a room for you in my house. There is also a place for your camels.’

³² So Abraham's servant went with Laban to the house. They took the luggage off the camels. Someone brought grass and food for the camels. They also brought water so that Abraham's servant and his men could wash their feet. ³³ They prepared food for the servant but he said, ‘I will not eat yet. First I must tell you why I have come here.’ Laban said, ‘Please tell us.’

³⁴ So the servant said, ‘I am Abraham's servant. ³⁵ The Lord has blessed my master very much, so that he has become very rich. The Lord has given him sheep and cows, and silver and gold. He has also given him male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys. ³⁶ Sarah is my master's wife. She has given birth to a son for him, even when she was very old. My master has given his son everything that belongs to him. ³⁷ My master told me to make a serious promise to him. He said, “I live as a stranger among the Canaanite people. But you must not get a Canaanite woman to be a wife for my son. ³⁸ Instead, go to the land where my father lived and find a wife for my son from among my family there.”

³⁹ So I asked my master, “What should I do if the woman will not return with me?” ⁴⁰ My master said “I have lived to please the Lord. He will send his angel to go with you. You will find a wife for my son, because the Lord will help you. You will find a wife for him from among my own family. ⁴¹ Go to the place where my family group live. If they refuse to let you take her, you will no longer have to keep your promise to me.” 

⁴² I arrived at the town well today. I prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, please help me to find a wife for my master's son. This is why I have travelled here. ⁴³ See, I am standing here near this well. If a young woman comes to get water, I will say to her, ‘Please let me drink some water from your pot.’ ⁴⁴ If she is the woman that the Lord has chosen to marry my master's son, please may she say to me, ‘Yes, drink. Then I will also get some water for your camels to drink.’ ”

⁴⁵ While I was still praying quietly, Rebekah came to the well. She carried her pot on her shoulder. She went down to the well, and got some water. Then I said to her “Please give me some water to drink.” ⁴⁶ She quickly took her pot down from her shoulder. She said, “Drink. Then I will get water for your camels too.” So I drank. And she also gave water to the camels.

⁴⁷ I asked her, “Whose daughter are you?” She said, “I am the daughter of Bethuel. Nahor is his father and Milcah is his mother.” When I heard that, I put the ring in her nose. I put the rings on her arms. ⁴⁸ I turned my face towards the ground and I worshipped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master, Abraham. The Lord led me to the right place so that I met the granddaughter of my master's brother. The Lord has led me to her, for my master's son. ⁴⁹ So tell me what you will say. If you will show true love to my master, then please say, “Yes.” But if not, then tell me. Then I will know what to do.’

⁵⁰ Laban and Bethuel replied, ‘We know that the Lord has caused all this to happen. So what we ourselves say is not important. ⁵¹ Here is Rebekah. Take her with you to become the wife of your master's son. That is what the Lord has shown to be right.’

A man who had a disease of the skin comes to meet Jesus

8 Jesus came down from the hill and a large crowd followed him. ² A man with a bad disease of the skin came to meet him. He went down on his knees in front of Jesus and he said, ‘Sir, if you want, you can make me well again. Please do it.’

³ Jesus put out his hand towards him and he touched him. ‘I do want to help you. Be clean again,’ Jesus said. Immediately, the man's skin was clean again. ⁴ Jesus said to the man, ‘Listen. You must not tell anyone about this. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest. Take a gift to him for God. Moses taught the people what gift to take to God after this kind of disease. This will show everyone that you are now well again.’

An officer in the army believes that Jesus can help him

⁵ Jesus went into Capernaum. An officer in the Roman army came to meet him. He asked Jesus to help him.^{[a] 6} ‘Sir,’ he said, ‘My servant is lying in bed at home. He cannot move his legs and he has a lot of pain.’

⁷ Jesus said to the officer, ‘I will go with you to your house and I will make your servant well again.’

⁸ But the officer answered, ‘Sir, I am not good enough for you to come into my house. Instead, just say that my servant will get better. I know that he will then be well again. ⁹ In my work, someone has authority over me. I also have authority over other soldiers. I say to one soldier, “Go!” and he goes. I say to another one, “Come!” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this!” and he does it.’

¹⁰ Jesus heard what the officer said. He was very surprised. He spoke to the crowd that was following him. ‘I tell you this: I have never found anyone like this man in all of Israel. Nobody else believes in me as well as he does. ¹¹ I tell you, many people will come from all over the world to take their place in the kingdom of heaven. There they will sit down to eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ¹² But other people who think that God's kingdom belongs to them will not be there. God's angels will throw them into the dark places that are far away from God. There those people will weep very much. They will bite their teeth together.’^[b]

¹³ Then Jesus said to the officer, ‘Go home. You believed that I would make your servant well again. So I will do it for you.’ At that moment, the servant did become well again.

Jesus makes many people well

¹⁴ Jesus went into Peter's house. There, he saw the mother of Peter's wife. She was lying in bed. She was ill and her body was very hot. ¹⁵ Jesus touched her hand and immediately she was well again. So she got up and she prepared food for Jesus.

¹⁶ That evening, people brought to Jesus many people who were ill. Many of them had bad spirits in them. Jesus spoke a word so that the bad spirits left them. He made everybody who was ill well again. ¹⁷ Jesus did this so that the words of the prophet Isaiah would become true:

Trust God

3 My child, do not forget what I teach you. Always think carefully about my commands. ² If you obey them, you will live a long life. You will have peace in your mind. and you will enjoy your life.

³ Keep hold of faithful love. That will be like a beautiful necklace that you always wear. Think about what it means to love other people. ⁴ If you do that, you will make God happy. People will also be pleased and they will respect you.

⁵ Trust in the Lord completely. Do not think that you understand things well enough for yourself. ⁶ Whatever you are doing, remember that the Lord is with you. Then he will show you the right way to go.