Genesis 24:3

24:3 so that I may make you solemnly promise ¹  by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire ²  a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living.

Genesis 24:16

24:16 Now the young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin; no man had ever had sexual relations with her. ³  She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up.

Genesis 24:67

24:67 Then Isaac brought Rebekah ⁴  into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took her ⁵  as his wife and loved her. ⁶  So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. ⁷ 

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¹ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose.

² tn Heb “because you must not take.”

³ tn Heb “And the young woman was very good of appearance, a virgin, and a man she had not known.” Some argue that the Hebrew noun translated “virgin” (בְּתוּלָה, bÿtulah) is better understood in a general sense, “young woman” (see Joel 1:8, where the word appears to refer to one who is married). In this case the circumstantial clause (“and a man she had not known”) would be restrictive, rather than descriptive. If the term actually means “virgin,” one wonders why the circumstantial clause is necessary (see Judg 21:12 as well). Perhaps the repetition emphasizes her sexual purity as a prerequisite for her role as the mother of the covenant community.

⁴ tn Heb “her”; the referent has been specified here in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Heb “Rebekah”; here the proper name was replaced by the pronoun (“her”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁶ tn Heb “and he took Rebekah and she became his wife and he loved her.”

⁷ tn Heb “after his mother.” This must refer to Sarah’s death.