Genesis 24:67

Summary

Isaac brings Rebekah into the tent that had belonged to his mother Sarah, takes her as wife, and loves her. The verse closes by noting that Isaac was comforted concerning his mother.

Key words

• va-y.vi.'E.ha ("and he brought her", H0935P) — hiphil narrative form: Isaac is the causative subject who makes Rebekah enter the tent.
• ha-'O.he.lah ("the tent, toward", H0168G + directional he) — the directional suffix H9011 marks motion "into" the tent, reinforcing the verb of bringing.
• va-i.yi.Kach ("and he took", H3947I) — qal narrative, the standard verb for taking a woman in marriage.
• va-te.hi-lo le-'i.Shah ("and she became to him for a wife", H1961 + H9005 + H0802H) — a double prepositional construction (lo, "to/for him" + le-'ishah, "for a wife") expressing the result of becoming his wife, not a simple predicate.
• va-i.yi.na.Chem ("and he was comforted", H5162G) — niphal form, passive/reflexive in sense: Isaac undergoes the state of being comforted rather than performing an action.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of five narrative vav-forms (H9001), each advancing the action in sequence: bringing, taking, becoming-wife, loving, being comforted. The syntax ties Rebekah's entry into Sarah's tent directly to the marriage act — the phrase ha-'O.he.lah ... sa.Rah 'i.M.o ("the tent, toward ... Sarah his mother", H0168G, H8283, H0517) places "Sarah his mother" in construct-like apposition to the tent, identifying it as the tent that had been hers.

The construction va-te.hi-lo le-'i.Shah uses two separate prepositional phrases (lo, "to him", and le-'ishah, "for a wife") rather than a direct object, which grammatically marks Rebekah's change of status "becoming" his wife rather than simply "being" his wife from the start.

The final clause pairs yitz.Chak ("Isaac", H3327) with 'a.cha.Rei 'i.M.o ("after his mother", H0310A + H0517), a construct phrase literally "after [the death/absence of] his mother," governing the niphal verb yi.na.Chem ("he was comforted", H5162G). The niphal stem presents the comforting as something happening to Isaac, not an action he initiates.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ha-'O.he.lah ... sa.Rah 'i.M.o ("the tent... Sarah his mother") as εἰς τὸν οἶκον τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ ("into the house of his mother"), using "house" (οἶκος) instead of "tent," and omitting Sarah's name, replacing it with the pronoun "his mother." The Vulgate follows this pattern with in tabernaculum Saræ matris suæ ("into the tent of Sarah his mother"), keeping "tent" (tabernaculum) and Sarah's name, closer to the Hebrew structure. The LXX also expands the final clause: where the Hebrew simply says Isaac yi.na.Chem ("was comforted") 'a.cha.Rei 'i.M.o ("after his mother"), the LXX reads παρεκλήθη Ἰσαὰκ περὶ Σάρρας τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ ("Isaac was comforted concerning Sarah his mother"), naming Sarah explicitly, while the Vulgate paraphrases further, adding dolorem, qui ex morte matris ejus acciderat, temperaret ("he tempered the grief that had arisen from his mother's death"), an explanatory expansion not present in the Hebrew wording.