Genesis 24:4

but will go to my country and my kindred to take a wife for my son Isaac.”

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Abraham speaks these words to his senior servant, concluding his command not to choose a Canaanite wife for Isaac.

The words — The Hebrew תֵּלֵךְ (telek) commands "you will go" to אַרְצִי (arti, "my land") and מוֹלַדְתִּי (moladti, "my kindred"), while וְלָקַחְתָּ (vekachta) commands "and you will take" an אִשָּׁה (ishah, "wife").

The thread — This directive reappears in Isaac’s later command to Jacob in Genesis 28:2 and stands in tension with the territorial promise in Genesis 12:7.

Why it lands — The text requires the servant to secure Isaac’s marriage within Abraham’s ancestral network rather than among the Canaanites where Abraham dwells.

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

כִּ֧יkifor אֶל־'el-to אַרְצִ֛י'ar.Tz/iland/ my וְאֶל־ve./'el-and/ to מוֹלַדְתִּ֖יmo.lad.T/ikindred/ my תֵּלֵ֑ךְte.Lekhyou will go וְלָקַחְתָּ֥ve./la.kach.Taand/ you will take אִשָּׁ֖ה'i.Shaha wife לִבְנִ֥יli/v.N/ifor/ son/ my לְיִצְחָֽק׃le./yitz.Chakfor/ Isaac

King James Version

But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

Cross-references

Genesis 28:2 “Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel, and take a wife from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
Genesis 11:25 And after he had become the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
Genesis 12:7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
Genesis 22:20 Some time later, Abraham was told, “Milcah has also borne sons to your brother Nahor:

People named

Isaac