Genesis 24:1-11

Now Abraham was old, [well] advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. Abraham said to his servant [Eliezer of Damascus], the oldest of his household, who had charge over all that Abraham owned, “Please, put your hand under my thigh [as is customary for affirming a solemn oath], [Gen 15:2] and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you will [instead] go to my [former] country (Mesopotamia) and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac [the heir of the covenant promise].” The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman will not be willing to follow me back to this country; should I take your son back to the country from which you came?” Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there! The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house, from the land of my family and my birth, who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give this land’—He will send His angel before you [to guide you], and you will take a wife from there for my son [and bring her here]. If the woman is not willing to follow you [to this land], then you will be free from this my oath and blameless; only you must never take my son back there.” So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter. Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels, and set out, taking some of his master’s good things with him; so he got up and journeyed to Mesopotamia [between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers], to the city of Nahor [the home of Abraham’s brother]. He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of the evening when women go out to draw water.