Chayei Sarah and the Shalshelet

(1) Abraham was now old, advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. (2) And Abraham said to the senior servant of his household, who had charge of all that he owned, “Put your hand under my thigh (3) and I will make you swear by the LORD, 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, (4) but will go to the land of my birth and get a wife for my son Isaac.” (5) And the servant said to him, “What if the woman does not consent to follow me to this land, shall I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” (6) Abraham answered him, “On no account must you take my son back there! (7) The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who promised me on oath, saying, ‘I will assign this land to your offspring’—He will send His angel before you, and you will get a wife for my son from there. (8) And if the woman does not consent to follow you, you shall then be clear of this oath to me; but do not take my son back there.” (9) So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore to him as bidden. (10) Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and set out, taking with him all the bounty of his master; and he made his way to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor. (11) He made the camels kneel down by the well outside the city, at evening time, the time when women come out to draw water. (12) And he said, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, grant me good fortune this day, and deal graciously with my master Abraham: (13) Here I stand by the spring as the daughters of the townsmen come out to draw water; (14) let the maiden to whom I say, ‘Please, lower your jar that I may drink,’ and who replies, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels’—let her be the one whom You have decreed for Your servant Isaac. Thereby shall I know that You have dealt graciously with my master.”

(12) Then the men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? Sons-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else that you have in the city—bring them out of the place. (13) For we are about to destroy this place; because the outcry against them before the LORD has become so great that the LORD has sent us to destroy it.” (14) So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law as one who jests. (15) As dawn broke, the angels urged Lot on, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two remaining daughters, lest you be swept away because of the iniquity of the city.” (16) Still he delayed. So the men seized his hand, and the hands of his wife and his two daughters—in the LORD’s mercy on him—and brought him out and left him outside the city. (17) When they had brought them outside, one said, “Flee for your life! Do not look behind you, nor stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, lest you be swept away.”

(5) And from the time that the Egyptian put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed his house for Joseph’s sake, so that the blessing of the LORD was upon everything that he owned, in the house and outside. (6) He left all that he had in Joseph’s hands and, with him there, he paid attention to nothing save the food that he ate. Now Joseph was well built and handsome. (7) After a time, his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” (8) But he refused. He said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me here, my master gives no thought to anything in this house, and all that he owns he has placed in my hands. (9) He wields no more authority in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except yourself, since you are his wife. How then could I do this most wicked thing, and sin before God?”

(22) He brought forward the second ram, the ram of ordination. Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the ram’s head, (23) and it was slaughtered. Moses took some of its blood and put it on the ridge of Aaron’s right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. (24) Moses then brought forward the sons of Aaron, and put some of the blood on the ridges of their right ears, and on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet; and the rest of the blood Moses dashed against every side of the altar.

(4) Hark! a tumult on the mountains— As of a mighty force; Hark! an uproar of kingdoms, Nations assembling! The LORD of Hosts is mustering A host for war. (5) They come from a distant land, From the end of the sky— The LORD with the weapons of His wrath— To ravage all the earth! (6) Howl! For the day of the LORD is near; It shall come like havoc from Shaddai. (7) Therefore all hands shall grow limp, And all men’s hearts shall sink; (8) And, overcome by terror, They shall be seized by pangs and throes, Writhe like a woman in travail. They shall gaze at each other in horror, Their faces livid with fright. (9) Lo! The day of the LORD is coming With pitiless fury and wrath, To make the earth a desolation, To wipe out the sinners upon it.

(1) The words of Amos, a sheepbreeder from Tekoa, who prophesied concerning Israel in the reigns of Kings Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake. (2) He proclaimed: The LORD roars from Zion, Shouts aloud from Jerusalem; And the pastures of the shepherds shall languish, And the summit of Carmel shall wither.

(12) But because our fathers angered the God of Heaven, He handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who demolished this house and exiled the people to Babylon. (13) But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon, King Cyrus issued an order to rebuild this House of God. (14) Also the silver and gold vessels of the House of God that Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon—King Cyrus released them from the temple in Babylon to be given to the one called Sheshbazzar whom he had appointed governor. (15) He said to him, “Take these vessels, go, deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the House of God be rebuilt on its original site.” (16) That same Sheshbazzar then came and laid the foundations for the House of God in Jerusalem; and ever since then it has been under construction, but is not yet finished.’

ויאמר עבד אברהם אנכי, our sages (Baba Kama 92) consider this as an example of a popular proverb that one should mention any personal deficiency before commencing to carry out whatever mission has been assigned to him. [according to this interpretation Eliezer, instead of considering it a privilege to be the servant of a man like Avraham, considered it a stigma that he was a slave. Ed.]