Genesis 24:44

Summary

The verse reports the exact words the servant proposed as a sign: if a young woman answers his request for water by inviting him to drink and offering to draw water for his camels as well, this will confirm that she is the woman Yehovah (H3068G) has designated for his master's son.

Key words

• 'a.me.Rah ("she will say", H0559) — qal sequential perfect; continues the narrative chain begun in the prior verses, marking this as the next link in a conditional sequence ("and she will say...").
• she.Teh ("drink", H8354) — qal imperative, second person masculine singular; the quoted speech of the woman commanding/inviting the servant directly.
• 'esh.'Av ("I will draw water", H7579) — qal imperfect, first person; expresses an action presented as future or ongoing, here the woman's promised action within the quoted speech.
• ho.Khi.ach ("he has appointed", H3198) — hiphil (causative) perfect; a completed action attributed to Yehovah (H3068G), framing the woman's identification as something already decided rather than merely hoped for.
• g.ma.Lei. ("camels", H1581) — masculine plural construct, bound to the following suffix kha ("your", H9021), forming "your camels" as the object of the drawing of water.

What the text says

The verse is built as embedded direct speech: the servant recounts, in the future/sequential mode, the hypothetical words of the woman he seeks. The double use of gam ("both"/"also", H1571) — once before 'a.Tah ("you", H0859A) and once before g.ma.Lei. ("camels", H1581) — creates a parallel structure: "both you drink" and "also for your camels I will draw," emphasizing that her response would exceed the minimal request, extending hospitality to the camels unprompted.

The sentence then shifts from quoted speech to the servant's own conclusion, marked by the pronoun hi' ("she", H1931) resuming the subject: "she is the woman." The relative clause introduced by 'a.Sher ("whom", H0834A) attaches the hiphil perfect ho.Khi.ach ("he has appointed", H3198) to Yehovah (H3068G), presenting the divine appointment as a completed act, not a wish. The construct chain le.ven-'a.do.Ni ("for the son of my master", H1121A + H0113) identifies the beneficiary of this appointment without naming Isaac directly in this verse.

Differences between versions

The LXX adds material absent from the Hebrew: it names the recipient as "the servant" (τῷ ἑαυτοῦ θεράπουτι) and appends a further clause ("and by this I will know that you have shown mercy to my master Abraham") not present in the Hebrew text given here. The Vulgate (VULCLEM) follows the Hebrew more closely, rendering ho.Khi.ach as "præparavit" ("has prepared") rather than a term closer to "appointed" or "designated," and it names "filio domini mei" ("the son of my master") without the LXX's additions.