Genesis 24:60

24:60 They blessed Rebekah with these words: ¹ 

“Our sister, may you become the mother ²  of thousands of ten thousands!

May your descendants possess the strongholds ³  of their enemies.”

Genesis 28:3

28:3 May the sovereign God ⁴  bless you! May he make you fruitful and give you a multitude of descendants! ⁵  Then you will become ⁶  a large nation. ⁷ 

Ruth 4:11-12

4:11 All the people who were at the gate and the elders replied, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is entering your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built up the house of Israel! May ⁸  you prosper ⁹  in Ephrathah and become famous ¹⁰  in Bethlehem. ¹¹  4:12 May your family ¹²  become like the family of Perez ¹³  – whom Tamar bore to Judah – through the descendants ¹⁴  the Lord gives you by this young woman.”

¹ tn Heb “and said to her.”

² tn Heb “become thousands of ten thousands.”

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.

⁵ tn Heb “and make you fruitful and multiply you.” See Gen 17:6, 20 for similar terminology.

⁶ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here indicates consequence. The collocation הָיָה + preposition לְ (hayah + lÿ) means “become.”

⁷ tn Heb “an assembly of peoples.”

⁸ tn Following the jussive, the imperative with prefixed vav indicates purpose or result.

⁹ tn The phrase וַעֲשֵׂה־חַיִל (va’aseh-khayil, literally, “do strength”) has been variously translated: (1) financial prosperity: “may you become rich” (TEV), “may you be a rich man” (CEV), “may you achieve wealth” (NASB), “may you prosper” (NKJV, NJPS); (2) social prominence: “may you become powerful” (NCV), “may you have standing” (NIV), “may you be great” (NLT), “may you do well” (NAB); (3) reproductive fertility: “may you produce children” (NRSV); and (4) social activity: “may you do a worthy deed” (REB).

¹⁰ tc Heb “and call a name.” This statement appears to be elliptical. Usually the person named and the name itself follow this expression. Perhaps וּקְרָא־שֵׁם (uqÿra’-shem) should be emended to וְיִקָּרֵא־שֵׁם (vÿyiqqare’-shem), “and your name will be called out,” that is, “perpetuated” (see Gen 48:16, cf. also Ruth 4:14b). The omission of the suffix with “name” could be explained as virtual haplography (note the letter bet [ב], which is similar to kaf [כ], at the beginning of the next word). The same explanation could account for the omission of the prefixed yod (י) on the verb “call” (yod [י] and vav [ו] are similar in appearance). Whether one reads the imperative (the form in the MT) or the jussive (the emended form), the construction indicates purpose or result following the earlier jussive “may he make.”

¹¹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.

¹² tn Heb “your house” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

¹³ tn Heb “and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, from the offspring whom the Lord gives to you from this young woman.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “from the seed” (KJV, ASV both similar); NASB, NIV “through the offspring”; NRSV “through the children.”