Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she got off the camel.
Parallel Translations
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Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she got off the camel.
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And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel.
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And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she alighted from the camel.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to Genesis 24:64 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Joshua 15:18 When she came, she had him ask her father for a field. She got off her donkey, and Caleb said, “What do you want?”
- Judges 1:14 When she came, she got him to ask her father for a field. She got off her donkey; and Caleb said to her, “What would you like?”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 64. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes. We may…
64. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes. We may easily conjecture that Isaac, when he saw the camels, turned his steps towards them, from the desire of seeing his bride; this gave occasion to the inquiry of Rebekah. Having received the answer, she immediately, for the sake of doing honor to her husband, dismounted her camel to salute him. For that she fell, struck with fear, as some suppose, in no way agrees with the narrative. She had performed too long a journey, under the protection of many attendants, to be so greatly afraid at the sight of one man. But these interpreters are deceived, because they do not perceive, that in the words of Moses, the reason is afterwards given to this effect, that when Rebekah saw Isaac, she alighted from her camel; because she had inquired of the servant who he was, and had been told that he was the son of his master Abraham. It would not have entered into her mind to make such inquiry respecting any person whom she might accidentally meet: but seeing she had been informed that Abraham’s house was not far distant, she supposes him at least to be one of the domestics. Moses also says that she took a veil: which was a token of shame and modesty. For hence also, the Latin word which signifies “to marry,” is derived, because it was the custom to give brides veiled to their husbands. That the same rite was also observed by the fathers, I have no doubt. So much the more shameful, and the less capable of excuse, is the licentiousness of our own age; in which the apparel of brides seems to be purposely contrived for the subversion of all modesty.
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.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 24:64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and…
Gen 24:64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel.
Ver. 64. She lighted off the camel.] To meet him with the more reverence and submission; for which cause also, she veiled herself. Here that of the poet held not.
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“Fastus inest pulchris, sequiturque superbia formam.” - Ovid.
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 As a testimony of her respect to him, whom…
As a testimony of her respect to him, whom by the servant she understood to be her lord and husband. Compare Jos 15:18; 1Sa 25:23.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain She lighted off her camel, and took a vail…
She lighted off her camel, and took a vail and covered herself - In token of humility, modesty and subjection.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain she lighted off the camel--If Isaac were walking, it…
she lighted off the camel--If Isaac were walking, it would have been most unmannerly for her to have continued seated; an inferior, if riding, always alights in presence of a person of rank, no exception being made for women.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 64. She lighted off the camel — Literally, and…
64. She lighted off the camel — Literally, and she fell from off the camel. The expression denotes the rapidity with which she threw herself from the camel at sight of Isaac, whom she, probably at once, more than suspected to be her future husband. Dr. Thomson says: “The behaviour of Rebekah, when about to meet Isaac, was such as modern etiquette requires. It is customary for both men and women, when an emeer, or great personage, is approaching, to alight some time before he comes up with them. Women frequently refuse to ride in the presence of men, and when a company of them are to pass through a town, they often dismount and walk. It was, no doubt, a point of Syrian etiquette for Rebekah to stop, descend from her camel, and cover herself with a vail in the presence of her future husband. In a word, this biblical narrative is so natural to one familiar with the East, so beautiful, also, and lifelike, that the entire scene seems to be an affair in which he has himself been but recently an actor.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 64. lighted off the camel] i.e. she “alighted,” or…
64. lighted off the camel] i.e. she “alighted,” or “leapt down from.” Her action is that of Oriental courtesy: cf. Jos_15:18; Jdg_1:14; 1Sa_25:23; 2Ki_5:21. See Thomson’s Land and Book, p. 593, “Women frequently refuse to ride in the presence of men; and when a company of them are to pass through a town, they often dismount and walk.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (64) She lighted off.—Heb., fell: descended hastily from her…
(64) She lighted off.—Heb., fell: descended hastily from her camel. It is still the custom in the East for an inferior when meeting a superior to dismount, and advance on foot. Rebekah, therefore, would have been thought bold and disrespectful had she not acknowledged the superiority of her lord. Besides beauty, we have already seen in her kindliness of heart, activity, and courageous submission to the guidance of Providence; we now see her modesty and courtesy towards her husband.
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 Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she…
And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw (literally, and she saw, though as yet she did not know that it was) Isaac, she lighted literally, fell; the word signifying a hasty descent; (cf. 1Sa_25:23 2Ki_5:21) katephdhsen (LXX); descended (Vulgate)off the camel. "The behavior of Rebekah was such as modern etiquette requires" (vide Thomson, "Land and Book," p. 593).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.