Genesis 24:5

Summary

The servant addresses Abraham, raising a conditional question: perhaps the woman will refuse to follow him to "this land" (Canaan), and if so, whether he should take Abraham's son back to the land from which Abraham departed. The verse is framed entirely as a question introduced by an interrogative particle.

Key words

• 'u.Lai ("perhaps", H0194) — adverb introducing a hypothetical, uncertain scenario; sets up the conditional nature of the servant's concern.
• to.Veh ("she will be willing", H0014) — qal imperfect, third person feminine; imperfect aspect marks this as a possible future action, not yet realized.
• he. ("¿", H9008) — interrogative particle prefixed to the following verb, marking the entire clause that follows as a direct question.
• ha.Shev ("really ", H7725G) — hiphil absolute infinitive; paired with the following finite verb of the same root to intensify or emphasize the action.
• 'a.Shiv ("will I take back", H7725G) — hiphil imperfect, first person singular, same root as ha.Shev; together they form an emphatic construction asking "shall I really take back...?"

What the text says

The verse divides into two parts. The first part (words 1–20) presents the servant's concern using 'u.Lai ("perhaps") plus the negated imperfect lo'-to.Veh ("she will not be willing"), describing a hypothetical refusal by ha.'i.Shah ("the woman", H0802G) to go 'a.cha.Rai ("after me", H0310A) to ha.'A.retz ha.Zot ("this land", H0776G + H2063).

The second part (words 21–33) poses the servant's actual question through the doubled-root construction he.ha.Shev 'a.Shiv. The interrogative particle he. (H9008) attaches to the absolute infinitive ha.Shev (H7725G), which is followed by the finite imperfect 'a.Shiv (H7725G) of the same root, "to take back." This infinitive-plus-finite-verb pairing is a grammatical device that intensifies the verb's force — the servant is not merely asking "shall I take back," but something closer to "shall I indeed/really take back" the son, 'et-bin.Kha ("your son", H1121A + H9021), to ha.'A.retz 'a.Sher-ya.Tza.ta mi.Sham ("the land from which you came out", H0834A + H3318G + H8033G). The perfect verb ya.Tza.ta ("you came out") marks Abraham's departure as a completed past action, contrasting with the still-open, uncertain future actions expressed by the imperfects earlier in the verse.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the emphatic infinitive-plus-verb construction (he.ha.Shev 'a.Shiv) simply as a single question, "Shall I return?" (implied in "εἰς ἐκεῖθεν"), without a parallel intensifying device, and its Greek text as given ends somewhat abruptly with "εἰς ἐκεῖθεν" ("to there") rather than fully restating "the land from which you came." The Vulgate splits the verse into two explicit questions ("Si noluerit... numquid reducere debeo...") using "numquid," a Latin interrogative marker, to convey the emphatic force that the Hebrew achieves through the doubled root ha.Shev / 'a.Shiv.