Genesis 24:47

Summary

This verse is the servant's report of his dialogue with Rebekah at the well: he asked whose daughter she was, she identified her lineage through Bethuel, Nahor and Milcah, and he then placed the nose ring and bracelets on her.

Key words

• 'esh.'Al ("I asked", H7592) — qal narrative verb, first person, continuing the chain of past actions with the narrative va- prefix.
• bat ("daughter of", H1323G) — feminine singular construct noun, used twice: once in the servant's question (bat-mi, "daughter of whom") and once in Rebekah's answer (bat-be.tu.'El, "daughter of Bethuel").
• 'a.Sher ("whom", H0834A) — relative particle introducing the clause identifying Bethuel as the one Milcah bore to Nahor.
• yal.dah ("she bore", H3205) — qal perfect, third feminine singular, marking a completed action prior to the main narrative sequence, unlike the surrounding narrative-vav verbs.
• 'a.Sim ("I put", H7760H) — qal narrative verb, first person, resuming the va- chain after the quoted dialogue, describing the servant's action following the answer.

What the text says

The verse is built almost entirely on the narrative va- + verb pattern (va'esh'al, va'omar, vatomer, va'asim), which in Biblical Hebrew strings together sequential past actions: "and I asked... and I said... and she said... and I put." This chain frames the verse as a report within a report — the servant recounting to Rebekah's family what happened at the well, including his own question and her answer as direct speech.

The question bat-mi 'at ("daughter of whom [are] you") uses the construct noun bat (H1323G) with the interrogative mi (H4310), a compact construction with no verb "to be" expressed — the pronoun 'aT ("you", H0859C) supplies the subject. Rebekah's answer mirrors this construct pattern (bat-be.tu.'El ben-na.Chor), stacking two construct chains ("daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor") to give her full patrilineal identity. Within her answer, the relative clause introduced by 'a.Sher ("whom", H0834A) shifts to a perfect verb, yal.dah ("she bore", H3205), rather than a narrative form — this marks the birth of Bethuel by Milcah as background information logically prior to the main storyline, not as another link in the sequential chain of events at the well.

The final clause returns to narrative sequence with 'a.Sim ("I put", H7760H), describing the servant placing the Ne.zem ("ring", H5141) on her 'a.Pa ("nose", H0639H) and the tze.mi.Dim ("bracelets", H6781A) on her ya.Dei. ("hands", H3027G, dual construct), each body part marked with the pronominal suffix -ha ("her").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Ne.zem ("ring", H5141) as ἐνώτια ("earrings"), while the Hebrew specifies placement 'al-'a.Pa ("on her nose", H0639H) — a divergence in the object described. The Vulgate follows this direction, translating inaures ("earrings") "ad ornandam faciem ejus" ("to adorn her face"), interpretively expanding the phrase beyond the Hebrew's simple prepositional placement "on her nose." The Hebrew construct chain bat-be.tu.'El ben-na.Chor ("daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor") is rendered by the LXX as "θυγάτηρ Βαθουήλ... ἐφ' τοῦ υἱοῦ Ναχώρ," restructuring the genealogical construct into a prepositional phrase.