Limitless Word
but you shall go to my father’s house and to my family, and take a wife for my son.’
Genesis 24:38 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB but you shall go to my father’s house, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’
  • KJV But thou shalt go unto my father’s house, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son.
  • BSB but you shall go to my father’s house and to my kindred to take a wife for my son.’
  • NASB but you shall go to my father’s house and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’
  • NLT Go instead to my father’s house, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son.’

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

He recounts Abraham's command to seek a wife from his own father's house and relatives. He shows the family that they are the very people Abraham sought.

Overview

The servant relates Abraham's instruction to find a bride among his kindred, the household now hearing the message. This makes plain that God has guided him precisely as Abraham intended. The testimony presses toward the request that Rebekah be given to Isaac.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 3

  • Gen 24:4But you shall go to my country, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”
  • Gen 12:1Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.
  • Gen 31:19Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Genesis videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Genesis 24:38YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on GenesisMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.

How Genesis 24:38 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.