Genesis 24:11

Summary

The verse describes the servant making the camels kneel down outside the city, near the well, at evening time — specifically at the hour when women customarily come out to draw water. It sets the temporal and spatial scene for the encounter that follows.

Key words

• yavRekh ("he made kneel", H1288) — hiphil (causative) verb: the subject does not simply kneel but causes the camels to kneel, indicating deliberate action by an external agent.
• Chutz ("outside", H2351) — construct noun forming a phrase with "the city," locating the action beyond the city's boundary.
• be'Er ("well of", H0875) — construct noun linked to ha-Mayim ("the water", H4325G), forming the phrase "well of the water."
• 'Et ("time of", H6256) — construct noun repeated twice (lines 14 and 17), each time governing a following noun/infinitive to mark a specific temporal point.
• tzet ("going out of", H3318G) — qal infinitive construct, expressing the action "to go out" as a verbal noun, paired with the participle sho'aVot.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with a narrative va- ("and", H9001) attached to the hiphil verb yavRekh, establishing sequential action: "and he made kneel." The causative form signals that the camels are the object of an intentional action by an unnamed subject (identified from context as the servant, though not explicit in this verse's grammar alone). The location is built through a chain of construct phrases: mi-Chutz la-'Ir ("from outside of the city") and 'el-be'Er ha-Mayim ("to the well of the water"), each using construct nouns (H2351, H0875) to link nouns tightly together without an explicit "of."

The temporal marker is doubled: le-'Et 'Erev ("to the time of evening") and le-'Et tzet ha-sho'aVot ("to the time of the going out of the ones drawing water"). Both use the construct noun 'Et (H6256) followed by different types of complements — first a simple noun ('Erev), then an infinitive construct (tzet) governing a participle (sho'aVot, H7579, feminine plural). This participle functions as a substantive, "the women who draw water," without a separate noun for "women" — the feminine plural verbal form itself carries that meaning grammatically.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the double temporal expression differently: instead of the two Hebrew construct phrases "time of evening" and "time of the going out of the drawers of water," it gives τὸ ψέ ("in the evening") and ἡνίκα ἐκπορεύονται αἱ ὑδρευόμεναι ("when the water-drawers go out"), using a finite verb (ἐκπορεύονται) rather than mirroring the Hebrew infinitive construct tzet. The Vulgate similarly shifts to a relative clause structure ("tempore quo solent mulieres egredi ad hauriendam aquam"), adding mulieres ("women") explicitly and the verb solent ("they are accustomed"), which is not present as a separate lexical item in the Hebrew, where "women" is implied only by the feminine plural participle sho'aVot.