Genesis 24:54-60

24:54 After this, he and the men who were with him ate a meal and stayed there overnight.

When they got up in the morning, he said, “Let me leave now so I can return to my master.” 24:55 But Rebekah’s 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 has granted me success on my journey. Let me leave now so I may return to my master.” 24:57 Then they said, “We’ll call the girl and find out what she wants to do.” 24:58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Do you want 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:

“Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands!

May your descendants possess the strongholds 10  of their enemies.”


tn Heb “And they ate and drank, he and the men who [were] with him and they spent the night.”

tn Heb “Send me away to my master.”

tn Heb “her”; the referent (Rebekah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial, indicating a reason for the preceding request.

tn After the preceding imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

tn Heb “and we will ask her mouth.”

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.