Discovery BoxGenesis 24:60 
Context24:60 They blessed Rebekah with these words: 1
“Our sister, may you become the mother 2 of thousands of ten thousands!
May your descendants possess the strongholds 3 of their enemies.”
Genesis 31:55
Context31:55 (32:1) 4 Early in the morning Laban kissed 5 his grandchildren 6 and his daughters goodbye and blessed them. Then Laban left and returned home. 7
1 tn Heb “and said to her.”
2 tn Heb “become thousands of ten thousands.”
sn May you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands. The blessing expresses their prayer that she produce children and start a family line that will greatly increase (cf. Gen 17:16).
3 tn Heb “gate,” which here stands for a walled city. In an ancient Near Eastern city the gate complex was the main area of defense (hence the translation “stronghold”). A similar phrase occurs in Gen 22:17.
4 sn Beginning with 31:55, the verse numbers in the English Bible through 32:32 differ by one from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 31:55 ET = 32:1 HT, 32:1 ET = 32:2 HT, etc., through 32:32 ET = 32:33 HT. From 33:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
5 tn Heb “and Laban got up early in the morning and he kissed.”
6 tn Heb “his sons.”
7 tn Heb “to his place.”
