Genesis 24:37

My master made me swear an oath and said, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell,

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Rebekah’s servant reports to Laban and Bethuel, relaying Abraham’s direct command to secure a wife for Isaac from the patriarch’s own lineage rather than the local Canaanites.

The words — The text foregrounds וַיַּשְׁבִּיעֵנִי (vayyashbi'ēnî, “he made me swear”) and לֹא תִקַּח אִשָּׁה (lōʾ tiqqaḥ ʾiššâ, “you shall not take a wife”) to establish the non-negotiable prohibition against marrying Canaanite women.

The thread — This directive repeats Abraham’s earlier oath protocol in Genesis 24:2, foreshadows the family’s later anxiety over Canaanite unions in Genesis 27:46, and aligns with the post-exilic boundary enforcement in Ezra 9:1.

Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to recognize that covenant fidelity demands prioritizing established kinship networks over immediate geographic or cultural convenience.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וַיַּשְׁבִּעֵ֥נִיva/i.yash.bi.'E./niand/ he made swear an oath/ me אֲדֹנִ֖י'a.do.N/imaster/ my לֵאמֹ֑רle./Mor<to>/ saying לֹא־lo'-not תִקַּ֤חti.Kachyou must take אִשָּׁה֙'i.Shaha wife לִבְנִ֔יli/v.N/ifor/ son/ my מִבְּנוֹת֙mi./be.noTfrom/ [the] daughters of הַֽכְּנַעֲנִ֔יha./ke.na.'a.Nithe/ Canaanite[s]אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.Sherwhom אָנֹכִ֖י'a.no.KhiI יֹשֵׁ֥בyo.Shev[am] dwelling בְּאַרְצֽוֹ׃be./'ar.Tz/oin/ land/ its

King James Version

And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell:

Cross-references

Genesis 24:2 So Abraham instructed the chief servant of his household, who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh,
Genesis 27:46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”
Ezra 9:1 After these things had been accomplished, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples whose abominations are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.
Genesis 6:2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.