What Does Genesis 24:16 Mean?

And the young woman was very good to see, a virgin, and no man had known her; and she went down to the well, and filled her jar, and came up.

Genesis 24:16 · SDV

Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.

Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.

THE KEY

In Hebrew, being “good to look upon” and being “known” are separate realities: the gaze does not equal intimacy.

THE MEANING

Your appearance does not contain your whole life: being seen is distinct from being intimately known. The woman in the verse is also in motion, she goes down to the spring, fills her pitcher, and comes up.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie this undoes is that appearance tells the whole truth about a person’s intimacy.

THE ROOT

יְדָעָהּ

yeda'ah

GROWS FROM

ידע

To know, recognize, or perceive through relationship or encounter.

“had known” in this verse is yeda'ah. English “known” can sound like information, but Hebrew yada describes personal knowing and, in this construction, sexual intimacy. The verse keeps being seen distinct from being intimately known.

ALSO GROWS

yadaʿ: Know, recognize, experience; also used for sexual intimacy.

יָדַע

In Genesis 4:1, the same verb describes Adam knowing Eve, making the intimate sense explicit.

daʿat: Knowledge, understanding.

דַּעַת

This related form shows that the root can name knowledge while still carrying the sense of knowing through encounter.

הָעַיְנָה

haʿayinah

GROWS FROM

עין

Eye; spring or water source.

The Hebrew word translated “well” also names an eye. Beside the description of her appearance, the spring becomes an opening that gives water, while the eye is an opening through which we see.

ALSO GROWS

ʿayin: Eye.

עַיִן

The same Hebrew word names the organ of sight, echoing the verse’s attention to appearance.

maʿyan: Spring, fountain.

מַעְיָן

This related word names a flowing water source and keeps the spring sense within the same word family.

THE PATTERN

Scripture uses “know” for relational encounter, including sexual intimacy, recognition, and personal familiarity.

And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, the gotten one, and she said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

Genesis 4:1 · SDVThe same Hebrew verb explicitly describes sexual intimacy, showing that “know” can name embodied relation.

Now a new king arose over Egypt, one who did not know Joseph.

Exodus 1:8 · SDVHere, “knew” describes a lack of personal recognition, showing the word reaches beyond information.

And he did not know her until she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus.

Matthew 1:25 · SDVMatthew uses ⁨ἐγίνωσκεν⁩ (eginōsken, “he knew/perceived”) for the same intimate sense, carrying this relational register into Greek.

THE THREAD

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, you probe me, and you perceive me.

Psalm 139:1 · SDV

The Hebrew verb is ⁨ידע⁩ (yādaʿ, “know or perceive”), the same root used for “knew her” here. In the psalm, it describes God’s close personal knowing, extending the word beyond sexual intimacy without flattening its force.

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