Genesis 24:30-31

24:30 When he saw the bracelets on his sister’s wrists and the nose ring ¹  and heard his sister Rebekah say, ²  “This is what the man said to me,” he went out to meet the man. There he was, standing ³  by the camels near the spring. 24:31 Laban said to him, ⁴  “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord! ⁵  Why are you standing out here when I have prepared ⁶  the house and a place for the camels?”

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¹ tn Heb “And it was when he saw the nose ring and the bracelets on the arms of his sister.” The word order is altered in the translation for the sake of clarity.

² tn Heb “and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying.”

³ tn Heb “and look, he was standing.” The disjunctive clause with the participle following the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) invites the audience to view the scene through Laban’s eyes.

⁴ tn Heb “and he said.” The referent (Laban) has been specified and the words “to him” supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁵ sn Laban’s obsession with wealth is apparent; to him it represents how one is blessed by the Lord. Already the author is laying the foundation for subsequent events in the narrative, where Laban’s greed becomes his dominant characteristic.

⁶ tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial.