The young lady was very beautiful to look at, a virgin. No man had known her. She went down to the spring, filled her pitcher, and came up.
Parallel Translations
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The young lady was very beautiful to look at, a virgin. No man had known her. She went down to the spring, filled her pitcher, and came up.
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And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
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And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her; and she went down to the fountain, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Genesis 24:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 26:7 The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “My wife”, lest, he thought, “the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at.”
- Genesis 4:1 The man knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have gotten a man with Yahweh’s help.”
- Genesis 39:6 He left all that he had in Joseph’s hand. He didn’t concern himself with anything, except for the food which he ate. Joseph was well-built and handsome.
- Numbers 31:17-18 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (7 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Here is declared that God ever heareth the prayers…
Here is declared that God ever heareth the prayers of his, and granteth their requests.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 24:16 And the damsel [was] very fair to…
Gen 24:16 And the damsel [was] very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
Ver. 16. And the damsel was very fair.] Kαλη και σοφη, Fair and wise, as it was said of Aspasia Milesia. {a} Here beauty was not ill-bestowed, as a gold ring in a swine’s snout, but (as the history {b} reports of the Lady Jane Gray) adorned with all variety of moral virtues, as a clear sky with stars, as a princely diadem with jewels. Beauty is of itself very attractive, as the poet hath it. {c} For which cause, Heraclonas, the young emperor of Constantinople, being sent into banishment, together with Martina his mother, had his nose cut off, lest his beauty should move the people to pity. And Angli tanquam Angeli, said Gregory the Great, of the English boys presented to him. How much more when accompanied and accomplished with chastity, as in this damsel. {d}
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A virgin, neither had any man known her.] This latter clause is added, because many pass for virgins that are not so; if that of the poet be true, especially
“Quae, quia non licuit, non facit, illa facit.” - Ovid.
And that of the orator, {e} Incesta est, et sine stupro, quae stuprum cupit. The Romans cashiered a vestal virgin for uttering this verse -
“Foelices nuptae! moriar, nisi nubere dulce est.”
The strumpet when she eats stolen bread, hath such dexterity in wiping her lips, that not the least crumb shall be seen to her shame. So that Solomon shows it to be as hard to find it out, "As the way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the sea, and the way of a man with a maid," {Pro 30:18-20} that is a close and chaste virgin; one that should be chaste at least, as being kept close from the access of strangers.
Filled her pitcher, and came up.] Here was no tarrying, gazing, gossiping. Not slothful in business. {Rom 12:11} She had not been delicately or wantonly bred, but inured to hard labour, and she followed it closely. Thucydides scribit Lacedaemoniis πατριος γεγονεναι εκ στων τονων τας αρετας κταθαι. {f}
{a} Aelian, Var. Hist., lib. xii., cap. 1.
{b} Life of Edward VI., p. 176.
{c} Oττι καλον φιλον εστι. - Bucholcer.
{d} Aγνεια ab αγνος, quod ab ανος veneratio. Sic castus quasi καστος, ornatus.
{e} Senec., in Declama.
{f} Thucyd., lib. ii.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain She was a virgin not only in title and…
She was a virgin not only in title and show, but in truth, for no man had known her, i.e. corrupted her.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the damsel was very fair to look upon,....…
And the damsel was very fair to look upon,.... Of a good countenance and beautiful aspect: a virgin:
neither had any man known her; not only was reckoned a virgin, but was really one, pure and incorrupt:
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and she went down to the well and filled her pitcher, and came up; by which it appears the well lay low, there was a descent unto it, and an ascent from it. Rebekah was very diligent and speedy in doing her work, she did not stay to look at strangers, or hold an idle conversation with other damsels that came thither on the same account; but, having filled her pitcher, was making the best of her way home.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 16. Went down to the well — The water,…
16. Went down to the well — The water, perhaps, was reached, as is often the case, by a flight of steps. Hence the use of the terms going down and coming up.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (16) She went down to the well.—The water, therefore,…
(16) She went down to the well.—The water, therefore, was reached by a flight of steps, the usual rule wherever the well was fed by a natural spring. Cisterns, on the contrary, supplied from the rains were narrower at the top than at the bottom.
Mr. Malan (Philosophy or Truth, p. 93), in an interesting account of his visit to this well, says that on going out from Haran in the evening to examine it, he found “a group of women filling, no longer their pitchers, since the steps down which Rebekah went to fetch the water are now blocked up, but their water-skins by drawing water at the well’s mouth. Everything around that well bears signs of age and of the wear of time; for as it is the only well of drinkable water there, it is much resorted to. Other wells are only for watering the flocks. There we find the troughs of various height for camels, for sheep and for goats, for kids and for lambs; there the women wear nose-rings and bracelets on their arms, some of gold or of silver, and others of brass, or even of glass.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And the damsel was very fair to look upon.…
And the damsel was very fair to look upon. Literally, good of countenance, like Sarah (Gen_12:11) and Rachel (Gen_29:17; cf. Gen_26:7 of Rebekah) A virgin. Bethulah, i.e. one separated and secluded from intercourse with men; from batik, to seclude (Deu_22:23, Deu_22:28; 2Sa_13:2, 2Sa_13:18) Neither had any man known her. A repetition for the sake of emphasis, rather than because bethulah sometimes applies to a married woman. (Joe_1:8) And she went down to the well, all wells in the East are in wadys, and have steps down to the water" (Thomson, "Land and Book," p. 592) and filled her pitcher, and came up probably wholly unconscious of the old man"s admiration, though by no means unprepared for his request, which immediately followed.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.