One verse. Three ways to understand.
I want you to promise me before the LORD, who is God of heaven and earth, that you will not choose a wife for my son from among the Canaanite women who live around us.
Abraham is asking his servant to make a solemn promise to God that he won't find a local Canaanite woman for Isaac to marry.
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King James Version · EnglishAnd I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:Ask the AI Assistant
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📚 Historical Context
In the biblical narrative of Genesis, Abraham is an elderly patriarch who has been promised by God to make his descendants a great nation, and he is now arranging a wife for his son Isaac. He instructs his servant to swear an oath not to take a wife from the Canaanites, the local inhabitants who practiced idolatry and polytheism, because Abraham wanted to preserve his family's covenant faithfulness to the one true God. This reflects the cultural and religious tensions of the ancient Near East, where intermarriage often led to assimilation into pagan practices.