Genesis 24: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Abraham, now old, has the chief servant of his household swear not to take a wife for Isaac from the Canaanites, but to go to Abraham's own country and relatives. The servant travels to the city of Nahor, prays at the well for a sign, and Rebekah gives him a drink and waters his camels; he learns she is the granddaughter of Abraham's brother Nahor. He tells his errand to her family, and Laban and Bethuel say the matter comes from the LORD; Rebekah is asked whether she will go, and she says she will. The servant brings her back, and Isaac takes her as his wife.

Claim by Claim

1. 24:1
   • Abraham was old
   • Abraham was advanced in days
   • The LORD had blessed Abraham in all things
2. 24:2
   • Abraham spoke to his servant
   • The servant was the oldest of Abraham's house
   • The servant ruled over all that Abraham had
   • Abraham told the servant to put his hand under Abraham's thigh
3. 24:3
   • Abraham said he would make the servant swear by the LORD
   • Abraham called the LORD the God of heaven
   • Abraham called the LORD the God of the earth
   • Abraham required that the servant not take a wife for Abraham's son from the daughters of the Canaanites
   • Abraham was dwelling among the Canaanites
4. 24:4
   • Abraham told the servant to go to Abraham's country
   • Abraham told the servant to go to Abraham's kindred
   • Abraham told the servant to take a wife there for his son
   • Abraham's son was named Isaac
5. 24:5
   • The servant said to Abraham that perhaps the woman would not be willing to follow him to this land
   • The servant asked whether he must then bring Abraham's son back to the land Abraham came from
6. 24:6
   • Abraham said to the servant to take care
   • Abraham warned him not to bring his son back there
7. 24:7
   • Abraham said the LORD is the God of heaven
   • Abraham said the LORD took him from his father's house
   • Abraham said the LORD took him from the land of his kindred
   • Abraham said the LORD spoke to him
   • Abraham said the LORD swore to him
   • Abraham said the LORD promised to give this land to Abraham's seed
   • Abraham said the LORD would send his angel before the servant
   • Abraham said the servant would take a wife for his son from there
8. 24:8
   • Abraham said that if the woman is not willing to follow the servant, the servant will be clear from this oath
   • Abraham said the servant must not bring his son back there
9. 24:9
   • The servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master
   • The servant swore to Abraham concerning this matter
10. 24:10
    • The servant took ten camels from his master's camels
    • The servant departed
    • All the good things of his master were in his hand
    • The servant arose and went to Aram-naharaim
    • Aram-naharaim contained the city of Nahor
11. 24:11
    • He made the camels kneel down outside the city
    • He made them kneel by a well of water
    • It was evening time
    • It was the time when the women who draw water go out
12. 24:12
    • The servant addressed the LORD as the God of his master Abraham
    • The servant asked the LORD to cause a favorable encounter for him that day
    • The servant asked the LORD to show kindness to his master Abraham
13. 24:13
    • The servant said he was standing by the spring of water
    • The servant said the daughters of the men of the city were coming out to draw water
14. 24:14
    • The servant asked that it come to pass that the young woman to whom he says to let down her jar so he may drink, and who says drink and I will also water your camels, be the one the LORD has appointed for his servant Isaac
    • The servant said that by this he would know the LORD had shown kindness to his master
15. 24:15
    • Before the servant had finished speaking, Rebekah came out
    • Rebekah was born to Bethuel
    • Bethuel was the son of Milcah
    • Milcah was the wife of Nahor
    • Nahor was Abraham's brother
    • Rebekah had her jar on her shoulder
16. 24:16
    • The young woman was very good to look upon
    • She was a virgin
    • No man had known her
    • She went down to the spring
    • She filled her jar
    • She came up
17. 24:17
    • The servant ran to meet her
    • The servant asked her to let him sip a little water from her jar
18. 24:18
    • She said, Drink, my lord
    • She hurried
    • She lowered her jar onto her hand
    • She gave him a drink
19. 24:19
    • She finished giving him a drink
    • She said she would also draw water for his camels
    • She said she would draw until they had finished drinking
20. 24:20
    • She hurried
    • She emptied her jar into the trough
    • She ran again to the well to draw water
    • She drew water for all his camels
21. 24:21
    • The man gazed at her
    • The man kept silent
    • The man was waiting to know whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not
22. 24:22
    • When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold nose ring
    • The nose ring weighed a beka
    • The man took two bracelets for her hands
    • The bracelets weighed ten shekels of gold
23. 24:23
    • The man asked whose daughter she was
    • The man asked her to tell him
    • The man asked whether there was room in her father's house for them to lodge
24. 24:24
    • She said she was the daughter of Bethuel
    • She said Bethuel was the son of Milcah
    • She said Milcah bore Bethuel to Nahor
25. 24:25
    • She said they had plenty of straw
    • She said they had plenty of fodder
    • She said they had room to lodge
26. 24:26
    • The man bowed his head
    • The man worshipped the LORD
27. 24:27
    • The man said blessed be the LORD, the God of his master Abraham
    • The man said the LORD had not forsaken his kindness and his truth toward his master
    • The man said the LORD had led him on the way to the house of his master's brothers
28. 24:28
    • The young woman ran
    • She told her mother's household these things
29. 24:29
    • Rebekah had a brother
    • Her brother's name was Laban
    • Laban ran out to the man at the spring
30. 24:30
    • Laban saw the nose ring
    • Laban saw the bracelets on his sister's hands
    • Laban heard the words of his sister Rebekah saying the man spoke thus to her
    • Laban came to the man
    • The man was standing by the camels at the spring
31. 24:31
    • Laban said, Come in, you blessed of the LORD
    • Laban asked why he was standing outside
    • Laban said he had prepared the house
    • Laban said he had prepared room for the camels
32. 24:32
    • The man came into the house
    • The camels were unharnessed
    • Straw and fodder were given to the camels
    • Water was given to wash his feet
    • Water was given to wash the feet of the men with him
33. 24:33
    • Food was set before him to eat
    • He said he would not eat until he had spoken his words
    • The other said, Speak
34. 24:34
    • He said he was Abraham's servant
35. 24:35
    • He said the LORD had greatly blessed his master
    • He said his master had become great
    • He said the LORD had given him flocks and herds
    • He said the LORD had given him silver and gold
    • He said the LORD had given him menservants and maidservants
    • He said the LORD had given him camels and donkeys
36. 24:36
    • He said Sarah, his master's wife, bore a son to his master
    • He said she bore the son after her old age
    • He said his master had given the son all that he has
37. 24:37
    • He said his master made him swear
    • He said his master forbade taking a wife for his son from the daughters of the Canaanites
    • He said his master dwells in the land of the Canaanites
38. 24:38
    • He said his master required him to go to his father's house
    • He said his master required him to go to his family
    • He said his master required him to take a wife for his son
39. 24:39
    • He said he told his master that perhaps the woman would not follow him
40. 24:40
    • He said his master answered him
    • He said his master called the LORD the one before whom he walks
    • He said his master said the LORD would send his angel with him
    • He said his master said the LORD would prosper his way
    • He said his master said he would take a wife for his son from his family and from his father's house
41. 24:41
    • He said his master said that then he would be clear from his oath when he came to his family
    • He said his master said that if they would not give her to him, he would be clear from the oath
42. 24:42
    • He said he came that day to the spring
    • He said he addressed the LORD as the God of his master Abraham
    • He said he asked whether the LORD would prosper the way he was going
43. 24:43
    • He said he was standing by the spring of water
    • He said the young woman who comes out to draw water and to whom he says to give him a little water from her jar to drink
44. 24:44
    • He said the woman would answer him to drink and that she would also draw for his camels
    • He said let her be the woman the LORD has appointed for his master's son
45. 24:45
    • He said before he had finished speaking in his heart, Rebekah came out
    • He said her jar was on her shoulder
    • He said she went down to the spring and drew water
    • He said he asked her to give him a drink
46. 24:46
    • He said she hurried
    • He said she lowered her jar from herself
    • He said she told him to drink and that she would also water his camels
    • He said he drank
    • He said she also watered the camels
47. 24:47
    • He said he asked her whose daughter she was
    • He said she answered that she was the daughter of Bethuel the son of Nahor
    • He said she answered that Milcah bore Bethuel to Nahor
    • He said he put the ring on her nose
    • He said he put the bracelets on her hands
48. 24:48
    • He said he bowed his head
    • He said he worshipped the LORD
    • He said he blessed the LORD, the God of his master Abraham
    • He said the LORD had led him in the true way
    • He said the purpose was to take the daughter of his master's brother for his master's son
49. 24:49
    • He asked them to tell him if they would deal in kindness and truth with his master
    • He asked them to tell him if not
    • He said then he would turn to the right hand or to the left
50. 24:50
    • Laban and Bethuel answered
    • They said the matter came from the LORD
    • They said they could not speak to him bad or good
51. 24:51
    • They said Rebekah was before him
    • They told him to take her and go
    • They said let her be a wife to his master's son
    • They said this was as the LORD had spoken
52. 24:52
    • When Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed to the earth to the LORD
53. 24:53
    • The servant brought out objects of silver
    • The servant brought out objects of gold
    • The servant brought out garments
    • The servant gave them to Rebekah
    • The servant gave precious things to her brother and to her mother
54. 24:54
    • He and the men with him ate and drank
    • They lodged there overnight
    • They rose up in the morning
    • He said to send him away to his master
55. 24:55
    • Her brother and her mother said the young woman should stay with them days, or ten
    • They said after that she would go
56. 24:56
    • He said to them not to delay him
    • He said the LORD had prospered his way
    • He asked them to send him away so he might go to his master
57. 24:57
    • They said they would call the young woman
    • They said they would ask her mouth
58. 24:58
    • They called Rebekah
    • They asked her whether she would go with this man
    • She said, I will go
59. 24:59
    • They sent away Rebekah their sister
    • They sent away her nurse
    • They sent away Abraham's servant
    • They sent away his men
60. 24:60
    • They blessed Rebekah
    • They called her their sister
    • They said may she become thousands of ten thousands
    • They said may her seed possess the gate of those who hate them
61. 24:61
    • Rebekah arose
    • Her young women arose
    • They rode upon the camels
    • They followed the man
    • The servant took Rebekah and went
62. 24:62
    • Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi
    • Isaac was dwelling in the land of the Negev
63. 24:63
    • Isaac went out into the field toward evening
    • Isaac went out to meditate, though the meaning of the word is uncertain
    • Isaac lifted up his eyes and saw
    • Camels were coming
64. 24:64
    • Rebekah lifted up her eyes
    • She saw Isaac
    • She got down from the camel
65. 24:65
    • She asked the servant who the man walking in the field to meet them was
    • The servant said it was his master
    • She took the veil
    • She covered herself
66. 24:66
    • The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done
67. 24:67
    • Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother
    • Isaac took Rebekah
    • She became his wife
    • Isaac loved her
    • Isaac was comforted after his mother

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

24:1

The LORD written in capital letters stands for God's own name in Hebrew. Jewish readers said "Lord" out loud instead of speaking that name.

24:2

Putting a hand under the thigh was a way of sealing an oath. "Thigh" is a polite substitute for the genitals, the part of the body associated with descendants, so the oath was sworn on the master's line of children, fitting, since the errand concerns his son's marriage. The gesture appears only here and in Genesis 47:29, both times when a dying or aging man binds someone to a promise. The "servant" is a slave, but one of high rank: he runs the entire estate.

24:3

The Canaanites were the settled peoples of the land Abraham was living in as a resident foreigner. The point of the restriction is family and clan, not personal virtue: a wife from a stranger's people would tie the household to that people rather than to Abraham's own kin back home.

24:4

"My country and my kindred" means Abraham's extended family, still living hundreds of miles to the northeast near Haran, in what is now northern Syria and southern Turkey. Marrying within the wider clan was normal practice and kept land, livestock and family loyalties together.

24:5

"Peradventure" is 1611 English for "perhaps" or "what if". The servant is raising a practical problem, not objecting.

24:7

"Angel" translates a word that simply means messenger, someone sent to carry out an errand for the one who sends him.

24:9

He swore, which means he made a very serious promise.

24:10

The King James "Mesopotamia" renders Hebrew Aram-naharaim, "Aram of the two rivers": the region of the upper Euphrates, around Haran, roughly five hundred miles northeast of Canaan. It is a journey of many weeks. Ten camels is a costly caravan; it advertises the wealth of the man who sent it.

24:11

Wells were normally outside the town walls, and fetching water was women's work done in the cool of morning and evening. The well was therefore the one place a stranger could reliably meet the young women of a town, which is why the servant waits there.

24:12

"Send me good speed" uses "speed" in its older sense of success or good fortune, not quickness. "Shew" is simply the old spelling of show.

24:14

The test is not a small courtesy. A thirsty camel can drink twenty gallons or more, and the water has to be hauled up by hand a jarful at a time; watering ten of them is hours of heavy labor offered to a stranger who asked only for a sip.

24:15

Rebekah came from Abraham's own family, far away. That is just what Abraham had asked his servant to find.

24:16

"Neither had any man known her" preserves a Hebrew idiom: to "know" someone is a standard way of speaking about sexual relations. The phrase spells out what "a virgin" has just said.

24:20

This is heavier work than it sounds. A thirsty camel at the end of a long journey can drink twenty to thirty gallons, and a water jar holds only a few gallons at a time, hauled up from the well by hand. Watering ten camels could take an hour or more of continuous lifting and carrying, all offered to a stranger she has just met. That is the whole point of the servant's test.

24:21

"Held his peace" means stayed silent. "To wit" here means "that is, to find out". So the sentence says he watched her without speaking, waiting to learn whether this was the answer to his prayer.

24:22

A shekel was a weight, not a coin, coined money did not yet exist, so metal was weighed out. A shekel was about two fifths of an ounce (roughly 11 grams). The ring at half a shekel is small; the two bracelets at ten shekels together are about four ounces of gold, a serious gift. Verse 47 shows the ring is a nose ring, worn through the nostril.

24:23

Travelers had no inns to stay in. They depended on families taking them in, and giving a stranger a bed and a meal was expected of everyone.

24:25

"Provender" is feed for animals, grain and the like, as distinct from the straw mentioned alongside it, which served as fodder and bedding.

24:26

In the King James Version "worshipped" often describes the physical act itself, bowing the head or going down to the ground before someone, which is what the Hebrew word means here.

24:27

"Kindness and faithfulness" (also "kindly and truly" in verse 49) is a fixed pair in Hebrew, used of loyal, dependable dealing with someone you stand in a relationship of obligation to, keeping faith rather than merely being pleasant.

24:28

"Her mother's household" means the women's quarters of the family compound, the tent or rooms where the mother and daughters lived, distinct from the father's.

24:29

A brother normally took a leading part in arranging his sister's marriage, and could act alongside or in place of the father. That is why Laban speaks first throughout, and why the gifts in verse 53 go to the brother and the mother.

24:31

"Wherefore standest thou without" means "why are you standing outside". "Without" as the opposite of "within" is normal 1611 English.

24:32

Washing the feet of a guest was the standard opening courtesy of hospitality: travelers walked in open sandals on dirt roads.

24:33

"Meat" in 1611 English meant food of any kind, not flesh specifically. Refusing to eat before stating his business signals that the errand outranks his own comfort.

24:35

"Asses" means donkeys, the everyday pack and riding animals of the region. "Flocks" are sheep and goats, "herds" are cattle. The list is a standard inventory of a rich herdsman's wealth.

24:36

Handing everything over to one son marks Isaac as the sole heir. The servant mentions it because it tells Rebekah's family exactly what she would be marrying into.

24:40

To walk before the LORD means to live your whole life following God.

24:43

The King James "virgin" here translates a Hebrew word meaning a young woman of marriageable age. The narrator used a different, more specific word back in verse 16.

24:47

The ring went in her nose, not her ear. Nose rings were common jewelry for women then.

24:48

"My master's brother's daughter" uses "daughter" loosely for any female descendant; Rebekah is Nahor's granddaughter, not his daughter. Hebrew regularly stretches family words this way.

24:49

"Turn to the right hand or to the left" is an idiom for going elsewhere, if the answer is no, he will look for a wife in some other branch of the family.

24:50

"We cannot speak to you bad or good" is an idiom: we can say nothing either way, the matter is out of our hands.

24:53

Gifts of this kind were the formal, expected part of a marriage agreement: valuables from the groom's side to the bride and to her family, which sealed the arrangement and compensated the household for the loss of a daughter.

24:55

The Hebrew here is unclear. It reads literally "days, or ten", and has been understood as ten days, as a year or ten months, or simply as some indefinite short stay. All the translator can be sure of is that the family are asking for a delay.

24:57

"Enquire at her mouth" means ask her herself and hear her own answer. In arranged marriages of this period the woman's own consent was not always sought, which is why the text bothers to record that it was.

24:58

Asking the young woman herself is not the normal shape of such a negotiation, where the men of the family settle the matter. The question is put because the servant is pressing to leave at once rather than after the usual interval.

24:59

A nurse was the woman who had suckled and then raised a girl from infancy; she stayed with her for life and went with her into her husband's household. This one is named Deborah in Genesis 35:8.

24:60

"Thousands of ten thousands" is an idiom for a number beyond counting, not an arithmetical figure. The city gate was the fortified entrance and the place where legal and civic business was transacted, so to "possess the gate" of enemies means to take their cities and hold power over them.

24:61

The trip back was hundreds of miles across dry country.

24:62

Beer-lahai-roi means "well of the Living One who sees me", named by Hagar in Genesis 16. The "southern region" is the Negev, the dry country south of Canaan.

24:63

The Hebrew verb translated "meditate" occurs only here and its meaning is uncertain; suggestions include to muse or reflect, to complain or lament, and simply to stroll. The ancient translations disagree among themselves.

24:64

"Lighted off the camel" means got down from it. Dismounting to meet someone on foot was a mark of respect.

24:65

Veiling was not everyday dress for a woman here, Rebekah has traveled unveiled. Covering herself on meeting Isaac marks her out as a bride being presented to her husband.

24:67

A married woman had her own tent. Bringing Rebekah into Sarah's tent installs her in the dead woman's place as mistress of the household.