Genesis 24:54-60

24:54 After this, he and the men who were with him ate a meal and stayed there overnight. ¹ 

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.”

[24:54]  ¹ tn Heb “And they ate and drank, he and the men who [were] with him and they spent the night.”

[24:54]  ² tn Heb “Send me away to my master.”

[24:55]  ³ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Rebekah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:56]  ⁵ tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial, indicating a reason for the preceding request.

[24:56]  ⁶ tn After the preceding imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[24:57]  ⁷ tn Heb “and we will ask her mouth.”

[24:58]  ⁹ tn The imperfect verbal form here has a modal nuance, expressing desire.

[24:60]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and said to her.”

[24:60]  ¹² tn Heb “become thousands of ten thousands.”

[24:60]  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.