Genesis 24:55
וַיֹּאמֶר אָחִיהָ וְאִמָּהּ תֵּשֵׁב הַנַּעֲרָ אִתָּנוּ יָמִים אוֹ עָשׂוֹר אַחַר תֵּלֵֽךְ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אָחִ֙יהָ֙ וְאִמָּ֔הּ תֵּשֵׁ֨ב הַנַּעֲרָ֥ אִתָּ֛נוּ יָמִ֖ים א֣וֹ עָשׂ֑וֹר אַחַ֖ר תֵּלֵֽךְ׃
εἶπαν δὲ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτῆς καὶ ἡ μήτηρ Μεινάτω ἡ παρθένος μεθ’ ἡμῶν ἡμέρας ὡσεὶ δέκα, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἀπελεύσεται.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Responderuntque fratres ejus et mater: Maneat puella saltem decem dies apud nos, et postea proficiscetur.
Pero el hermano y la madre de la muchacha respondieron: “Que la joven se quede con nosotros unos diez días más, y después se podrá ir”.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Entonces respondió su hermano y su madre: Espere la moza con nosotros á lo menos diez días, y después irá.
But her brother and mother said, “ Let the girl remain with us ten days or so. After that, she may go.”
✦ What the text says
Summary
Genesis 24:55 records the response of Rebekah's brother and mother to the request that she leave immediately: they ask that she remain with them a set number of days before departing. The Hebrew phrasing expresses this period through an idiomatic pairing of two words for "days" and "ten."
Key words
- va-yomer ("and he said", H0559) — qal narrative verb, singular "he," continuing the story's chain of events with a single speaker introduced.
- 'achiha ("her brother", H0251G) — masculine singular noun in construct with the pronominal suffix ha ("her," H9024), grammatically singular though referring to Rebekah's kin.
- teshev ("let her remain", H3427) — qal imperfect, expressing a wish or instruction rather than a flat statement of fact, third person feminine singular (the young woman).
- yamim ("days", H3117G) and 'asor ("ten", H6218) — paired nouns forming an idiomatic expression for an approximate span of time.
- telekh ("she will go" / "you will go", H1980G) — qal imperfect; the consonantal form is shared between third feminine singular and second masculine singular, creating grammatical ambiguity in isolation.
What the text says
The verse opens with the narrative verb va-yomer ("and he said," H0559), grammatically singular, followed by the compound subject 'achiha ("her brother," H0251G) ve-'immah ("and her mother," H0517) joined by the conjunction ve (H9002). The verb form is masculine singular even though the subject is compound, a common construction in Biblical Hebrew when the first-listed subject determines verb agreement.
The requested action is framed with teshev ("let her remain," H3427), a qal imperfect verb that can carry a jussive or volitional sense — an appeal rather than a command. The time period is expressed through yamim ("days," H3117G) 'o ("or," H0176A) 'asor ("ten," H6218), literally "days or ten," an idiom functioning to indicate an approximate duration rather than a precise count. The clause closes with 'achar ("after," H0310A) and telekh ("she will go," H1980G), the imperfect form of which is morphologically identical for third feminine singular and second masculine singular, though context here identifies the subject as the young woman (ha-na'arah, H5291).
Differences between versions
The Hebrew 'achiha ("her brother," H0251G) is singular, but the LXX renders it as plural, oi adelphoi autēs ("her brothers"), and the Vulgate similarly uses fratres eius ("her brothers"), both expanding the subject to multiple siblings where the Hebrew names only one.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.