What Does Genesis 24:57 Mean?
And they said, We will call the young woman, and ask at her mouth.
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 they said, We will call the damsel, and enquire at her mouth.THE KEY
The answer is not decided for her in silence: they will ask her own mouth.
THE MEANING
A choice that carries you forward is not fully voiced until your own answer is heard. Here, the question comes directly to her, and her response becomes part of what happens next.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that others can settle a life-changing choice without hearing from the person who must live it.
THE ROOT
וְנִשְׁאֲלָה אֶת־פִּיהָ
wenish'alah et-piha
GROWS FROM
שׁאל
shin
to ask, inquire, or request
The Hebrew says they will ask at her mouth, making her voice the source of the answer. The root can mean both asking and requesting, so the inquiry seeks a response from her rather than treating her choice as something others can infer.
ALSO GROWS
she'elah: request, petition
שְׁאֵלָה
This noun grows from the same root as asking; the question here makes room for a response that belongs to her.
Sha'ul: asked for, requested
שָׁאוּל
This form preserves the other side of asking: someone can be the one sought or requested. Here, the family turns toward Rebekah to hear her answer.
THE PATTERN
A choice opens when the person most affected is asked to speak.
And they called Rebekah, and said to her, Will you go with this man? And she said, I will go.In Gibeon the LORD showed himself to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give you.Saying, What do you want me to do for you? And he said, Lord, that I may look up.THE THREAD
When the days had come around, Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, the asked-for one, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.The Hebrew root שאל appears in both verses: here they ask Rebekah, and Hannah says she has asked of the LORD. The same root holds an inquiry directed to a person and a request made to God.
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