Bible Strands
Genesis 24:6
Abraham replied, “Make sure that you do not take my son back there.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Abraham addresses his chief servant during the covenant selection process, responding to the servant’s proposal to return Isaac to Mesopotamia if the chosen bride refuses to leave. The patriarch issues a direct command to prevent any reversal of the journey.
The words — The imperative הִשָּׁמֵר (hi.shamér) means “take heed,” followed by the negative purpose particle פֶּן (pen) “lest.” The verb תָּשִׁיב (ta.shiv) literally means “you should turn back” or “take back,” emphasizing a complete reversal of direction.
The thread — The warning against turning back appears in Galatians 5:1, which commands believers to stand firm in freedom, and in 2 Peter 2:20, which addresses those who escape corruption only to become entangled again.
Why it lands — The text demands a decisive break from the past, treating reversal as a violation of divine direction. Readers must recognize that covenant progress requires forward movement without looking back to former locations or conditions.
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
King James Version
And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.
Cross-references
- Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
- Hebrews 10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
- 2 Peter 2:20 If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first.
- Hebrews 11:9 By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
- Hebrews 11:13 All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.