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74

CHAP. XXIIII.

ND Abraham was old, and of manie dayes: and our Lord had blessed him in al things. And he said to the elder seruant of his house, which was ruler ouer al that he had: Put thy hand vnder my thigh, that I may adiure thee by our Lord God of heauen and earth, that thou take not a wife for my sonne of the daughters of the Cananites, among whom I dwel: but that thou goe vnto myne owne countrie and kindred, and thence take a wife for my sonne Isaac. The seruant answered: If the woman wil not come with me into this land, whether must I bring thy sonne backe againe to the place, from whence thou didest come forth? And Abraham said: Beware thou neuer bring my sonne backe againe thither. Our Lord God of heauen, which tooke me out of my fathers house, and out of my natiue countrie, which spake to me, and sware to me, saying: To thy seed wil I giue this land: he shal send his Angel before thee, and thou shalt take from thence a wife for my sonne: but if the woman wil not folow thee, thou shalt not be bound by the oath: only bring not my sonne thither againe. The seruant therfore put his hand vnder the thigh of Abraham his Lord, and sware to him vpon this word. And he tooke ten camels of his Lords heard, and departed, of al his goods carying something with him, and setting forward went on into Mesopotamia to the citie of Nachor. And when he had made the camels lye downe without the towne beside a wel of water at euen, at the time when women are wont to come forth to draw water, he said: O Lord God of my Lord Abraham, meet me to day, I beseech thee, and doe mercifully with my Master Abraham. Behold I stand nigh to the fountaine of water and the daughters of the inhabiters of this citie wil come forth to draw water. Therfore ″ the maid, to whom I shal say: Bow downe thy tankard that I may drinke; and she shal answer: Drinke, yea to thy camels also wil I giue drinke: she it is, whom thou hast prouided for thy seruant Isaac: and by this I shal vnderstand, that thou hast delt mercifully Rh