Bible Strands
Genesis 24:60
And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands upon thousands. May your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Abraham’s relatives address Rebekah at her departure from Haran, immediately after she agrees to leave and before she mounts her camel with the servant. They speak as her family unit formally releasing her to an arranged marriage in Canaan.
The words — The phrase לְ/אַלְפֵ֣י (le./'al.Fei) literally means “into thousands of,” combined with הֲיִ֖י (ha.Yi) “become” to form the petition “may you become the mother of thousands upon thousands.” The opening verb וַ/יְבָרֲכ֤וּ (va/y.va.ra.Khu) records the formal act of blessing that introduces their spoken declaration.
The thread — The multiplication of descendants and the imagery of possessing enemy gates directly reference Genesis 22:17 and Genesis 17:16, where God’s covenant promises are reiterated. The fertility and inheritance language also aligns with the elders’ blessing in Ruth 4:11.
Why it lands — The text states a familial wish for progeny and territorial victory without attaching conditions to Rebekah’s character or actions. It asks the reader to note how covenant lineage is explicitly routed through a specific woman at a historical transition point.
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 they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
Cross-references
- Genesis 22:17 I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
- Genesis 17:16 And I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will descend from her.”
- Ruth 4:11 “We are witnesses,” said the elders and all the people at the gate. “May the LORD make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you be prosperous in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.
- Genesis 28:3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a company of peoples.
- Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”
- Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
- 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,
- Genesis 48:20 So that day Jacob blessed them and said: “By you shall Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
- Genesis 14:19 and he blessed Abram and said: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
- Leviticus 25:46 You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But as for your brothers, the Israelites, no man may rule harshly over his brother.