Back to Genesis 24

Genesis 24:12-14

He said, “Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. The daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let it happen, that the young lady to whom I will say, ‘Please let down your pitcher, that I may drink,’ then she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,’—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

World English Bible · Public Domain
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The servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter. The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and departed, having a variety of good things of his master’s with him. He arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water. He said, “Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. The daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let it happen, that the young lady to whom I will say, ‘Please let down your pitcher, that I may drink,’ then she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,’—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    He said, “Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

    Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. The daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.

    Let it happen, that the young lady to whom I will say, ‘Please let down your pitcher, that I may drink,’ then she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,’—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

  • KJV King James Version

    And he said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.

    Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water:

    And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    And he said: 'O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, send me, I pray Thee, good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham.

    Behold, I stand by the fountain of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water.

    So let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say: Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say: Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also; let the same be she that Thou hast appointed for Thy servant, even for Isaac; and thereby shall I know that Thou hast shown kindness unto my master.'

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Cross-references (53)

  • Judges 6:37 (v14) behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I’ll…
  • Genesis 24:27 (v12) He said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for…
  • Judges 6:17 (v14) He said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me.
  • Genesis 24:43 (v13) behold, I am standing by this spring of water. Let it happen, that the maiden who comes out to draw, to whom I will say, “Please give me a…
  • Exodus 3:6 (v12) Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he…
Show all 51 cross-references
  • Genesis 15:8 (v14) He said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?”
  • Genesis 26:24 (v12) Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless…
  • Psalms 37:5 (vv12–13) Commit your way to Yahweh. Trust also in him, and he will do this:
  • Genesis 24:42 (v12) I came today to the spring, and said, ‘Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, if now you do prosper my way which I go—
  • Genesis 24:48 (v12) I bowed my head, and worshiped Yahweh, and blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my…
  • Exodus 3:15 (v12) God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of…
  • 2 Samuel 5:24 (v14) When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then stir yourself up; for then Yahweh has gone out before you to…
  • 2 Kings 2:14 (v12) He took Elijah’s mantle that fell from him, and struck the waters, and said, “Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?” When he also had struck…
  • 2 Kings 20:8-11 (v14) Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and that I will go up to Yahweh’s house the third day?” Isaiah…
  • Psalms 122:6 (v12) Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Those who love you will prosper.
  • Isaiah 7:11 (v14) “Ask a sign of Yahweh your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.”
  • Proverbs 3:6 (vv12–13) In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
  • Genesis 15:1 (v12) After these things Yahweh’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great…
  • Genesis 17:7-8 (v12) I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to…
  • Genesis 24:11 (v13) He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water.
  • Genesis 27:10 (v12) You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”
  • Genesis 27:20 (v12) Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He said, “Because Yahweh your God gave me success.”
  • Genesis 28:13 (v12) Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, “I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. I will give the land you lie…
  • Genesis 29:9-10 (v13) While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she kept them. When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban,…
  • Genesis 31:42 (v12) Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God…
  • Genesis 32:9 (v12) Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your country, and to your relatives,…
  • Genesis 43:14 (v12) May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my…
  • Exodus 2:16 (v13) Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.
  • Exodus 4:1-9 (v14) Moses answered, “But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, ‘Yahweh has not appeared to you.’ ”…
  • Judges 5:11 (v13) Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, there they will rehearse Yahweh’s righteous acts, the righteous acts of his…
  • Judges 18:5 (v14) They said to him, “Please ask counsel of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.”
  • 1 Samuel 9:11 (v13) As they went up the ascent to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said to them, “Is the seer here?”
  • 1 Samuel 14:8-10 (v14) Then Jonathan said, “Behold, we will pass over to the men, and we will reveal ourselves to them. If they say this to us, ‘Wait until we…
  • 1 Kings 18:36 (v12) At the time of the evening offering, Elijah the prophet came near, and said, “Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it…
  • Nehemiah 1:11 (v12) Lord, I beg you, let your ear be attentive now to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants, who delight to fear your…
  • Nehemiah 2:4 (v12) Then the king said to me, “What is your request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.
  • Psalms 90:16-17 (v12) Let your work appear to your servants, your glory to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us. Establish the work of our…
  • Psalms 118:25 (v12) Save us now, we beg you, Yahweh! Yahweh, we beg you, send prosperity now.
  • Psalms 127:1 (v12) Unless Yahweh builds the house, they who build it labor in vain. Unless Yahweh watches over the city, the watchman guards it in vain.
  • Proverbs 19:14 (v14) House and riches are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from Yahweh.
  • Matthew 22:32 (v12) ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
  • John 4:7 (v13) A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
  • Philippians 4:6 (v12) In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
  • 1 Thessalonians 3:10-11 (v12) night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face, and may perfect that which is lacking in your faith? Now may our God and…
  • Genesis 24:44 (v14) then she tells me, “Drink, and I will also draw for your camels,”—let her be the woman whom Yahweh has appointed for my master’s son.’
  • Judges 7:13-15 (v14) When Gideon had come, behold, there was a man telling a dream to his fellow. He said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream; and behold, a cake of…
  • 1 Samuel 6:7-9 (v14) “Now therefore take and prepare yourselves a new cart and two milk cows on which there has come no yoke; and tie the cows to the cart, and…
  • 1 Samuel 10:2-10 (v14) When you have departed from me today, then you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb, on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will tell you,…
  • 1 Samuel 20:7 (v14) If he says, ‘It is well,’ your servant shall have peace; but if he is angry, then know that evil is determined by him.
  • 2 Samuel 20:9 (v14) Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.
  • Romans 1:10 (v14) requesting, if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you.

51 distinct cross-references across this passage (53 total citations).

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (17 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On v12 12. O lord God of my master Abraham. The…

12. O lord God of my master Abraham. The servant, being destitute of counsel, retakes himself to prayers. Yet he does not simply ask counsel of the Lord; but he also prays that the maid appointed to be the wife of Isaac should be brought to him with a certain sign, from which he might gather that she was divinely presented to him. It is an evidence of his piety and faith, that in a matter of such perplexity he is not bewildered, as one astonished; but breaks forth into prayer with a collected mind. But the method which he uses seems scarcely consistent with the true rule of prayer. For, first, we know that no one prays aright unless he subjects his own wishes to God. Wherefore there is nothing more unsuitable than to prescribe anything, at our own will, to God. Where, then, it may be asked, is the religion of the servant, who, according to his own pleasure, imposes a law upon God? Secondly, there ought to be nothing ambiguous in our prayers; and absolute certainty is to be sought for only in the Word of God. Now, since the servant prescribes to God what answer shall be given, he appears culpably to depart from the suitable modesty of prayer; for although no promise had been given him, he nevertheless desires to be made fully certain respecting the whole affair. God, however, in hearkening to his wish, proves, by the event, that it was acceptable to himself. Therefore we must know, that although a special promise had not been made at the moment, yet the servant was not praying rashly, nor according to the lust of the flesh, but by the secret impulse of the Spirit. Moreover, the general law, by which all the pious are bound, does not prevent the Lord, when he determines to give something extraordinary, from directing the minds of his servants towards it; not that he would lead them away from his word, but only that he makes some peculiar concession to them in their mode of praying. The sum of the prayer before us is this: “O Lord, if a damsel shall present herself who, being asked to give me drink, shall also kindly and courteously offer it to my camels, I will seek after her as a wife for my master Isaac, just as if she were delivered into my hand by thee.” He seems, indeed, to be laying hold on some dubious conjecture; but since he reposes on the Providence of God, he is certainly persuaded that this token shall be to him equivalent to an oracle; because God, who is the guardian of his enterprise, will not suffer him to err. Meanwhile this is worthy of remark, that he does not fetch the sign of recognition from afar, but takes it from something present; for she who shall be thus humane to an unknown guest, will, by that very act, give proof of an excellent disposition. This observation may be of use to prevent inquisitive men from adducing this example as a precedent for vain prognostications. In the words themselves the following particulars are to be noticed: first, that he addresses himself to the God of his master Abraham; not as being himself a stranger to the worship of God, but because the affair in question depends upon the promise given to Abraham. And truly he had no confidence in prayer, from any other source than from the covenant into which God had entered with the house of Abraham. The expression “cause to meet me this day,” Jerome renders, “meet me, I pray, this day.” But the verb is transitive, and the servant of Abraham intimates by the use of it, that the affairs of men were so ordered by the counsel and the hand of God, that the issue of them was not fortuitous; as if he would say, O Lord, in vain shall I look on this side and on that; in vain shall I catch at success by my own labor, industry and various contrivances, unless thou direct the work. And when he immediately afterwards subjoins, show kindness to my master, he implies that in this undertaking he rests upon nothing but the grace which God had promised to Abraham.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv12, 14 He groundeth his prayer upon God’s promise made to…
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–14 Gen 24:12 And he said, O LORD God of…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12, 14 Or, mercy. He makes no mention of himself, nor…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–14 And he said, O Lord God of my master…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12, 14 Send me good speed this day - We have…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v12 Verse 12. And he said, O Lord God, c.]…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12, 14 Gen 24:12. Send me good speed — What a…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v14 By this. He chose a mark which would manifest…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v12 And he said, O Lord God of my master--The…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v12 12. Lord… send me good speed — Or, cause…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–14 12. O Lord, the God of my master] Referring…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v12 (12-14) O Lord God . . . —Heb., Jehovah,…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On v12 Vers. 12-14. And he said, commencing his search for…
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v14 Jdg 6:17; Jdg 6:37; 2Ki 20:9; Pro 16:33; Act…
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v12 Then he said
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v14 24:14 Abraham’s future daughter-in-law manifested hospitality and industry like…
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