Genesis 24:63

Summary

The verse narrates that Isaac went out into the field toward evening for a purpose expressed by the verb suach ("meditate", H7742), and that upon lifting his eyes he saw camels arriving. The scene marks the moment just before the meeting with Rebekah, framed by a temporal clause and a sudden visual discovery introduced by hinneh ("there!", H2009).

Key words

• va-yetze' ("and he went out", H3318G) — narrative vav + qal verb, third person masculine, opening the sequence of action with "and then he went out."
• la-suach ("to meditate", H7742) — infinitive with the preposition la ("to", H9005), expressing purpose: Isaac goes out "in order to" do this action.
• li-fnot 'arev ("at the turning of evening", H6437G + H6153) — infinitive construct fnot ("turning of") governing the noun 'arev ("evening"), a construct phrase marking a specific point in the day rather than a general time.
• va-yisa' 'einav ("and he lifted his eyes", H5375M + H5869A) — narrative verb followed by the dual construct noun 'einayv ("his eyes"), a fixed idiom for the act of looking up.
• hinneh ("there!", H2009) — interjection introducing the object of sight abruptly, drawing attention to what follows: gemalim ba'im ("camels coming", H1581 + H0935G, participle).

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of narrative vav-forms (va-yetze', va-yisa', va-yar'), each meaning "and then he..." This chain structure ties Isaac's departure, his lifting of the eyes, and his seeing into one continuous sequence of action. The purpose of his going out is marked by two infinitives with the preposition la/li: la-suach ("to meditate") and li-fnot 'arev ("at the turning of evening"), the second forming a construct phrase that pinpoints the time of day rather than describing another action of Isaac.

The final clause shifts from narrative verbs to a participle: gemalim ba'im ("camels coming", H0935G) describes the camels not as completing an action but as being in the ongoing state of arriving, which is what Isaac perceives at the moment he looks. The interjection hinneh ("there!", H2009) marks the transition from Isaac's action (seeing) to the content of what is seen, presenting it as an immediate, vivid discovery rather than a plain report.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders la-suach ("to meditate", H7742) as ἀδολεσχῆσαι, a verb also carrying the sense of pondering or talking to oneself, while the Vulgate uses ad meditandum ("to meditate"), close to the Hebrew infinitive sense. The Vulgate adds "procul" ("from afar") when describing the camels, a detail not present in the Hebrew text's participial phrase gemalim ba'im ("camels coming").