Genesis 24:50

24:50 Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “This is the Lord’s doing. 1  Our wishes are of no concern. 2 

Genesis 24:53

24:53 Then he 3  brought out gold, silver jewelry, and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave valuable gifts to her brother and to her mother.

Genesis 24:60

24:60 They blessed Rebekah with these words: 4 

“Our sister, may you become the mother 5  of thousands of ten thousands!

May your descendants possess the strongholds 6  of their enemies.”

1 tn Heb “From the Lord the matter has gone out.”

2 tn Heb “We are not able to speak to you bad or good.” This means that Laban and Bethuel could not say one way or the other what they wanted, for they viewed it as God’s will.

3 tn Heb “the servant”; the noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

4 tn Heb “and said to her.”

5 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).

6 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.