Kejadian 24:28-41

24:28 The young woman ran and told her mother’s household all about ¹  these things. 24:29 (Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban.) ²  Laban rushed out to meet the man at the spring. 24:30 When he saw the bracelets on his sister’s wrists and the nose ring ³  and heard his sister Rebekah say, ⁴  “This is what the man said to me,” he went out to meet the man. There he was, standing ⁵  by the camels near the spring. 24:31 Laban said to him, ⁶  “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord! ⁷  Why are you standing out here when I have prepared ⁸  the house and a place for the camels?”

24:32 So Abraham’s servant ⁹  went to the house and unloaded ¹⁰  the camels. Straw and feed were given ¹¹  to the camels, and water was provided so that he and the men who were with him could wash their feet. ¹²  24:33 When food was served, ¹³  he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I want to say.” ¹⁴  “Tell us,” Laban said. ¹⁵ 

24:34 “I am the servant of Abraham,” he began. 24:35 “The Lord has richly blessed my master and he has become very wealthy. ¹⁶  The Lord ¹⁷  has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 24:36 My master’s wife Sarah bore a son to him ¹⁸  when she was old, ¹⁹  and my master ²⁰  has given him everything he owns. 24:37 My master made me swear an oath. He said, ‘You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 24:38 but you must go to the family of my father and to my relatives to find ²¹  a wife for my son.’ 24:39 But I said to my master, ‘What if the woman does not want to go ²²  with me?’ ²³  24:40 He answered, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, ²⁴  will send his angel with you. He will make your journey a success and you will find a wife for my son from among my relatives, from my father’s family. 24:41 You will be free from your oath ²⁵  if you go to my relatives and they will not give her to you. Then you will be free from your oath.’

[24:28]  ¹ tn Heb “according to.”

[24:29]  ² tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause introduces the audience to Laban, who will eventually play an important role in the unfolding story.

[24:30]  ³ tn Heb “And it was when he saw the nose ring and the bracelets on the arms of his sister.” The word order is altered in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[24:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying.”

[24:30]  ⁵ tn Heb “and look, he was standing.” The disjunctive clause with the participle following the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) invites the audience to view the scene through Laban’s eyes.

[24:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he said.” The referent (Laban) has been specified and the words “to him” supplied in the translation for clarity.

[24:31]  ⁷ sn Laban’s obsession with wealth is apparent; to him it represents how one is blessed by the Lord. Already the author is laying the foundation for subsequent events in the narrative, where Laban’s greed becomes his dominant characteristic.

[24:31]  ⁸ tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial.

[24:32]  ⁹ tn Heb “the man”; the referent (Abraham’s servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:32]  ¹⁰ tn Some translations (e.g., NEB, NASB, NRSV) understand Laban to be the subject of this and the following verbs or take the subject of this and the following verbs as indefinite (referring to an unnamed servant; e.g., NAB, NIV).

[24:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and [one] gave.” The verb without an expressed subject may be translated as passive.

[24:32]  ¹² tn Heb “and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.”

[24:33]  ¹³ tn Heb “and food was placed before him.”

[24:33]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my words.”

[24:33]  ¹⁵ tc Some ancient textual witnesses have a plural verb, “and they said.”

[24:33]  tn Heb “and he said, ‘Speak.’” The referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:35]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “great.” In this context the statement refers primarily to Abraham’s material wealth, although reputation and influence are not excluded.

[24:35]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he.” The referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:36]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to my master.” This has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[24:36]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “after her old age.”

[24:36]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he.” The referent (the servant’s master, Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:38]  ²¹ tn Heb “but to the house of my father you must go and to my family and you must take a wife for my son.”

[24:39]  ²² tn The imperfect is used here in a modal sense to indicate desire.

[24:39]  ²³ tn Heb “after me.”

[24:40]  ²⁴ tn The verb is the Hitpael of הָלַךְ (halakh), meaning “live one’s life” (see Gen 17:1). The statement may simply refer to serving the Lord or it may have a more positive moral connotation (“serve faithfully”).

[24:41]  ²⁵ tn Heb “my oath” (twice in this verse). From the Hebrew perspective the oath belonged to the person to whom it was sworn (Abraham), although in contemporary English an oath is typically viewed as belonging to the person who swears it (the servant).