Genesis 24:60 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him!”

NIV: And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, 'Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.'

NASB: And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, 'May you, our sister, Become thousands of ten thousands, And may your descendants possess The gate of those who hate them.'

CSB: They blessed Rebekah, saying to her: Our sister, may you become thousands upon ten thousands. May your offspring possess the city gates of their enemies.

NLT: They gave her this blessing as she parted: 'Our sister, may you become the mother of many millions! May your descendants be strong and conquer the cities of their enemies.'

KJV: And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.

NKJV: And they blessed Rebekah and said to her: “Our sister, may you become The mother of thousands of ten thousands; And may your descendants possess The gates of those who hate them.”

Upon her departure to travel to the land of Canaan to marry Isaac, Rebekah's family blessed her, their sister, with this poem that may have been a traditional type of wedding blessing for a bride. However, it includes very similar language to the Lord's promises of blessing to Abraham earlier in Genesis (Genesis 22:17).

Because of God's promises to Abraham, and because Rebekah would give birth to Jacob, the next in the covenant line of Israel, these blessings on her will absolutely come to pass. She will become, through her offspring, thousands of ten thousands, and her offspring will conquer their enemies, possessing the gates of their cities. Her son Jacob will be renamed Israel by God, making Rebekah—literally—the mother of God's chosen people.

Genesis 24:60–67 describes how, after being blessed and sent away by her family, Rebekah journeys to the land of Canaan. Arriving in the Negeb, she is met by her future husband Isaac and given the tent of his late mother Sarah. Soon, they are married, taking their place as the next generation of God's chosen people.

Abraham asks his most trusted servant to travel to his former homeland to find a wife for his son Isaac. Swearing to do so, the servant arrives at the city of Nahor and asks the Lord to show him which young women is appointed for Isaac. Finding Rebekah, the very granddaughter of Abraham's brother Nahor, the servant reveals the reason for his journey to her family. Her father Bethuel and brother Laban agree to allow Rebekah to travel to Canaan and marry Isaac, which she does.

Genesis 24 takes place a few years after Sarah has died. Abraham becomes urgent to find Isaac a wife, not among the women of Canaan, but from his own people back in Mesopotamia. His trusted servant, sent to accomplish this mission with the help of the Lord, eventually returns with Rebekah, the granddaughter of Abraham's own brother. Isaac is married to her at the age of 40. Abraham's death is recorded in the following chapter.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.