The Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca
Abraham sends his servant Eliezer to Aram Naharaim, and he brings back Rebecca, recognized by her kindness at the well.
Abraham is old and insists that his son not marry among the daughters of Canaan. He puts his steward under oath and sends him to Aram Naharaim, to the city of Nahor. Eliezer reaches the well toward evening and asks for a sign — not of wealth or beauty but of character: let the girl who offers to water him and all ten camels be the one appointed. Rebecca, daughter of Bethuel, does exactly that, running back to the well until the camels have drunk. Eliezer gives her gold ornaments and goes to her father's house, where he retells the whole story in one of the longest speeches in the Torah. Laban, her brother, greets the guest with suspicious haste, having seen the gold. The family asks the girl herself, and she answers in one word: "I will go." Isaac, meanwhile, goes out "to meditate in the field toward evening" — the verse from which the Talmud derives the afternoon prayer. He brings her into his mother's tent and is comforted.