Genesis 24:4
in Genesis 24but will go to my country and my kindred to take a wife for my son Isaac.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.
KJV
But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.
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This verse in Genesis 24
Commentary
6 notes on this verseMy country - Mesopotamia, called here Abraham’s country, because it was the place where the family of Haran, his brother, had settled; and where himself had remained a considerable time with his father Terah.
This site's exposition
a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites
on Genesis 24:3-4
The bar on Canaanite wives becomes house policy for three generations, and Isaac lays the same charge on Jacob in chapter 28. Abraham is guarding the line the promise runs through. The family he sends back to serves other gods, and Joshua 24:2 says so of the fathers beyond the River.
This site's exposition
go to my country and my kindred
Abraham calls the region of Haran my country and my kindred, though the family had come there from Ur of the Chaldeans at 11:31. Adam Clarke explained the phrase: his brother's family had settled there, and Abraham had stayed there a long time with his father Terah. The kindred he means are Nahor's line, listed at 22:20.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Do you note the patriarch's command given to the servant? I mean, don't pass idly by these words; instead, consider the good man's purpose, and study how in ancient times their concern was not to look for abundance of possessions, not for great wealth, slaves, so many acres of land, not charm of external beauty—rather, they looked for beauty of soul and nobility of manners.You see, since he saw the wickedness of the inhabitants of Canaan and realized how great a good it is to have a partner of similar manners, he directed his servant and put him under oath to procure a wife for Isaac from his relatives. Neither the distance between the places nor the other difficulties caused him to delay the task. Rather, in the realization of the necessity of the business, he showed all haste in dispatching the servant. For his part, the patriarch acted in this from concern for the soul's virtue and abhorrence of the wickedness of the [land's] inhabitants.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Thus God swears his servants to their work, that, having sworn, they may perform it. Honour is here done to the eternal God; for he it is that is sworn by, to whom alone these appeals ought to be made. And some think honour is done to the covenant of circumcision by the ceremony here used of putting his hand under his thigh.
But thou shalt go unto my country,....
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֧י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אַרְצִ֛י | ʾartzi | land my | H776 → | 2504 times |
| וְאֶל־ | veel- | and to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מוֹלַדְתִּ֖י | moladti | kindred my | H4138 → | 22 times |
| תֵּלֵ֑ךְ | telekh | you will go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| וְלָקַחְתָּ֥ | velakachta | and you will take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| אִשָּׁ֖ה | ʾishah | a wife | H802 → | 781 times |
| לִבְנִ֥י | livni | for son my | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| לְיִצְחָֽק׃ | leyitzchak | for Isaac | H3327 → | 108 times |
כִּ֧יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אַרְצִ֛יland my
ʾartziH776 →2504 times
וְאֶל־and to
veel-H413 →5510 times
מוֹלַדְתִּ֖יkindred my
moladtiH4138 →22 times
תֵּלֵ֑ךְyou will go
telekhH1980 →1546 times
וְלָקַחְתָּ֥and you will take
velakachtaH3947 →966 times
אִשָּׁ֖הa wife
ʾishahH802 →781 times
לִבְנִ֥יfor son my
livniH1121 →4930 times
לְיִצְחָֽק׃for Isaac
leyitzchakH3327 →108 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 12:7Then 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.
it leads to
- Genesis 17:8
And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”
- 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.
- Genesis 13:15
for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.
- Galatians 3:16
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.
- Genesis 18:1
Then the LORD appeared to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre in the heat of the day, while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent.
- Genesis 17:8
Through
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.
it leads to
- Genesis 25:20
and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.
- Hosea 12:12
Jacob fled to the land of Aram and Israel worked for a wife—for a wife he tended sheep.
- Genesis 32:10
I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps.
- Genesis 25:20
Where this verse is studied
About Genesis

Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 48.8-9; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
