What Does Genesis 24:46 Mean?
And she hurried, and lowered her jar from upon her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give your camels drink also; so I drank, and she gave the camels drink also.
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 made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels drink also.THE KEY
The Hebrew distinguishes receiving a drink from giving drink: Rebekah’s answer turns one request into provision for the camels as well.
THE MEANING
A request for a drink becomes care extending to every thirsty body in view. Rebekah’s quickness and lowered pitcher make the welcome tangible, reaching beyond the traveler to the camels too.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The scene undoes the idea that care ends when the named request is met: the camels are included before anyone asks for them.
THE ROOT
אַשְׁקֶה
ʾašqeh
GROWS FROM
שקה
shaqah (שקה) means to water or give drink.
“gave the camels drink” in this verse is ʾašqeh. The traveler’s command, “Drink,” is שְׁתֵה (šətēh), from a different root, שתה; Rebekah’s “I will give drink” is אַשְׁקֶה (ʾašqeh), from שקה. Hebrew distinguishes receiving water from actively supplying it, and her offer extends that care to the camels.
ALSO GROWS
hišqāh: he gave drink; he watered
הִשְׁקָה
This causative form makes explicit the act Rebekah offers: providing water to another.
mašqeh: a drink or beverage; a cupbearer
מַשְׁקֶה
The same root names both what is drunk and the one who serves drink, holding provision and its delivery together.
וַתְּמַהֵר
wattəmahēr
GROWS FROM
מהר
mahar (מהר) means to hasten or act quickly.
“hurried” in this verse is wattəmahēr. The haste belongs to Rebekah’s response: she moves quickly from hearing the request to bringing water. The root keeps attention on the speed of the action that makes the offer real.
ALSO GROWS
mihēr: he hastened
מִהֵר
This verb shares the root and names the swift action behind Rebekah’s response.
məherāh: quickly; soon
מְהֵרָה
The related adverb shows how the root can describe the manner or timing of an action.
וַתּוֹרֶד
wattōred
GROWS FROM
ירד
yarad (ירד) means to descend or go down.
“lowered” in this verse is wattōred. The pitcher’s descent is not just a change of position: it is the movement that brings water within reach. The related causative form can mean “bring down,” making the action’s effect visible in the scene.
ALSO GROWS
yārad: he descended; he went down
יָרַד
This is the basic verb of descent from which the pitcher’s lowering is formed.
hōrīd: he brought down; he lowered
הוֹרִיד
This causative form highlights an action that makes something descend, as Rebekah does with her pitcher.
THE PATTERN
A response to one need can open into provision that reaches a wider circle.
Let a little water be taken, please, and wash your feet, and lean yourselves under the tree.And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me yet another vessel. And he said to her, There is not one more vessel. And the oil stood.For I hungered, and you gave me food; I thirsted, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you gathered me in.THE THREAD
And let it be, that the young woman to whom I say, Lower your jar, I pray you, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give your camels drink also; let her be the one you have set for your servant Isaac; and by this I shall perceive that you have done faithful love to my master.The same root שקה (shaqah), “to give drink,” appears in the servant’s request and in Rebekah’s offer. What he names as the sign becomes the action she performs, including the detail that her care reaches the camels.
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