What Does Genesis 24:18 Mean?
And she said, Drink, my lord; and she hurried, and lowered her jar upon her hand, and gave him drink.
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.
King James wording
King James Version
And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for giving him a drink also describes watering the ground: this small act is life-sustaining care.
THE MEANING
When you are thirsty, care reaches you as something tangible: the vessel is lowered, the water comes within reach, and your need is answered. The same Hebrew verb used for watering the ground makes this ordinary drink part of the language of sustaining life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that care must be grand to matter: here, a drink offered and given is meaningful care.
THE ROOT
וַתַּשְׁקֵהוּ
vatashqehu
GROWS FROM
שקה
To give drink, water, or irrigate.
“gave him drink” in this verse is vatashqehu. The verb for giving a person a drink belongs to the same root used for watering the ground. Hebrew holds personal refreshment and the watering that sustains soil in one word-family, showing the life-giving weight inside this small gesture.
ALSO GROWS
hishqah: Watered or gave water.
הִשְׁקָה
Genesis 2:6 uses this form for water reaching the ground, linking care for a person with the watering that sustains the earth.
mashqeh: A drink or beverage; also a person who serves drinks.
מַשְׁקֶה
The same root names both the drink and the one who serves it, tying provision to the act of bringing it within reach.
THE PATTERN
Life is sustained when water moves from a source into the reach of thirst.
But a mist rose from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.If the one who hates you hungers, feed him bread; and if he thirsts, give him water to drink.And whoever gives one of these small ones only a cup of cold water in the nature of a disciple, truly I say to you, he will by no means lose his wage.THE THREAD
But a mist rose from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.The Hebrew verb translated watered in Genesis 2:6 shares the root שקה with the word translated gave him drink here. The language places refreshing a person and watering the ground in one family: both are ways life is sustained through water.
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