Genesis 24:40

And he told me, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you may take a wife for my son from my kindred and from my father’s house.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The servant addresses Rebekah’s family in Haran, recounting Abraham’s prior instructions regarding the search for a bride for Isaac. He explains that Abraham’s command rests on a divine guarantee for the journey’s success.

The words — וַיֹּאמֶר (va.yomer) and הִתְהַלַּכְתִּי (hit.hallakti) translate literally as “he said” and “I have walked,” anchoring the report to Abraham’s past conduct. The text states Abraham’s past obedience as the basis for the promised angelic escort.

The thread — The promise of an angelic escort parallels Exodus 23:20, where God sends an angel to protect and guide. The reference to walking before God echoes the posture described in Psalm 16:8 and the companionship noted in Genesis 5:24.

Why it lands — The text requires the listener to recognize that the mission’s success depends on God’s prior presence and future intervention. It demands acceptance of a specific, bounded commission: secure a wife from the designated kinship group under divine protection.

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

וַיֹּ֖אמֶרva/i.Yo.merand/ he said אֵלָ֑י'e.La/ito/ me יְהוָ֞הYah.wehYahweh אֲשֶׁר־'a.Sher-whom הִתְהַלַּ֣כְתִּיhit.ha.Lakh.tiI have walked about לְפָנָ֗יוle./fa.Na/v<to>/ before/ him יִשְׁלַ֨חyish.Lachhe will send מַלְאָכ֤וֹmal.'a.Kh/oangel/ his אִתָּךְ֙'i.to/Khwith/ you וְהִצְלִ֣יחַve./hitz.Li.achand/ he will make successful דַּרְכֶּ֔ךָdar.Ke./khajourney/ your וְלָקַחְתָּ֤ve./la.kach.Taand/ you will take אִשָּׁה֙'i.Shaha wife לִבְנִ֔יli/v.N/ifor/ son/ my מִמִּשְׁפַּחְתִּ֖יmi./mish.pach.T/ifrom/ family/ my וּמִבֵּ֥יתu./mi./Beitand/ from/ [the] household of אָבִֽי׃'a.V/ifather/ my

King James Version

And he said unto me, The Lord, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father’s house:

Cross-references

Exodus 23:20 Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
Psalms 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God, and then he was no more, because God had taken him away.
Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.
Exodus 33:2 And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
Genesis 5:22 And after he had become the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
Genesis 6:9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.
Genesis 24:7 The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me from my father’s house and my native land, who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—He will send His angel before you so that you can take a wife for my son from there.
Genesis 48:15 Then he blessed Joseph and said: “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
1 Kings 8:23 and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.