Genesis 24:15

Summary

The verse marks a narrative turning point: while the servant (unnamed here, referred to only as hu' ("he", H1931)) is still speaking, Rebekah appears carrying her water jar. The text immediately identifies her lineage — daughter-line to Bethuel, grandson-line to Milcah and Nahor, Abraham's brother.

Key words

• teRem ("not yet", H2962) — introduces a temporal clause marking simultaneity: the action that follows (Rebekah's appearance) happens before the previous action (speaking) is complete.
• killah ("he had finished", H3615G) — piel perfect, an intensive/completive verb form denoting the act of finishing as a whole action, paired with the infinitive daber ("to speak", H1696G).
• yotzet ("[was] coming out", H3318G) — qal participle, feminine singular, presenting Rebekah's action as ongoing/in-progress at the moment of the servant's prayer, not as a completed event.
• yulledah ("she had been born", H3205) — pual perfect, a passive intensive form; the verb does not mean "daughter" but describes the act of being born, with the agent (Bethuel) marked by the preposition le ("to", H9005).
• ben ("[the] son of", H1121A) and achi ("[the] brother of", H0251G) — construct nouns chaining the genealogy: Bethuel is "son of Milcah," Nahor is "brother of Abraham."

What the text says

The verse opens with the formula va-yhi hu' ("and it was, he..."), followed by the temporal marker teRem ("not yet") plus the piel perfect killah ("he had finished") and infinitive daber ("to speak") — a construction meaning "before he had finished speaking." This is immediately followed by hinneh ("there!", H2009), an interjection that shifts the narrative viewpoint, introducing Rebekah's arrival while she is still yotzet ("coming out"), a participle expressing an action in progress rather than a finished one.

Rebekah's identity is then built through a chain of construct nouns: she is the one yulledah ("who had been born") le-Vtu'el ("to Bethuel"), who is ben Milkah ("son of Milcah"), who is eshet Nachor ("wife of Nahor"), who is achi Avraham ("brother of Abraham"). The Hebrew verb yulledah describes an event (her birth) rather than using a noun for "daughter," so the relationship to Bethuel is expressed through the passive verb plus the preposition le, not through a kinship noun.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew uses the passive verb yulledah ("she had been born") with le ("to") Bethuel, describing an event. The LXX renders this with the participle τεχθεῖσα ("having been born") plus a dative, matching the Hebrew's verbal construction. The Vulgate, however, uses the noun filia Bathuel ("daughter of Bethuel"), converting the passive verb into a kinship noun. The English versions (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) follow the Vulgate's nominal pattern ("daughter of..."). Additionally, where the Hebrew simply has le-daber ("to speak"), the LXX adds ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ ("in his mind/thought") and the Vulgate adds intra se ("within himself"), specifying an interior speech not marked in the Hebrew text itself.