When they got up in the morning, he said, “Let me leave now so I can return to my master.” 2 24:55 But Rebekah’s 3 brother and her mother replied, “Let the girl stay with us a few more days, perhaps ten. Then she can go.” 24:56 But he said to them, “Don’t detain me – the Lord 4 has granted me success on my journey. Let me leave now so I may return 5 to my master.” 24:57 Then they said, “We’ll call the girl and find out what she wants to do.” 6 24:58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Do you want 7 to go with this man?” She replied, “I want to go.”
24:59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, accompanied by her female attendant, with Abraham’s servant and his men. 24:60 They blessed Rebekah with these words: 8
“Our sister, may you become the mother 9 of thousands of ten thousands!
May your descendants possess the strongholds 10 of their enemies.”
1 tn Heb “And they ate and drank, he and the men who [were] with him and they spent the night.”
2 tn Heb “Send me away to my master.”
3 tn Heb “her”; the referent (Rebekah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial, indicating a reason for the preceding request.
6 tn After the preceding imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
7 tn Heb “and we will ask her mouth.”
9 tn The imperfect verbal form here has a modal nuance, expressing desire.
11 tn Heb “and said to her.”
12 tn Heb “become thousands of ten thousands.”
13 tn Heb “gate,” which here stands for a walled city. In an ancient Near Eastern city the gate complex was the main area of defense (hence the translation “stronghold”). A similar phrase occurs in Gen 22:17.