Genesis 26:35 — Word Study
WLCוַתִּהְיֶ֖יןָ מֹ֣רַת ר֑וּחַ לְיִצְחָ֖ק וּלְרִבְקָֽה׃ ס
BSAAndhâyâh▸ they broughtrûwach [a great deal of, a grief of mind] griefmôrâh△ [bitterness, trouble, or pain] to IsaacYitschâq [the father of Esau and Israel, 'he laughs'] and RebekahRibqâh [the wife of Isaac and mother of Esau and Jacob]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| וַתִּהְיֶ֖יןָ | and they were | Verb, Qal, sequential imperfect third person feminine plural |
| מֹ֣רַת | bitterness of | Noun common, feminine singular construct |
| ר֑וּחַ | spirit | Noun common, feminine singular absolute |
| לְיִצְחָ֖ק | to Isaac | Preposition, noun proper masculine |
| וּלְרִבְקָֽה׃ ס | and to Rebekah | Conjunction, preposition, noun proper feminine |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | And they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah. |
| KJV | Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. |
| ASV | and they were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. |
| YLT | and they are a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah. |
| WEB | They grieved Isaac’s and Rebekah’s spirits. |
| BBE | And Isaac and Rebekah had grief of mind because of them. |
The translations agree on the rendering of מֹרַת as grief.
The sentence has a main clause with two prepositional phrases indicating the recipients of the grief.
6 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them ›
clause
verbהָיָה
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
1 of 5 occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament — a word chosen on purpose.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — Genesis 26:35
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — The Consequences of Esau's Marriagesgenerated
Genesis 26:35 describes how Esau's choice of wives brought deep sorrow to his parents, Isaac and Rebekah. This moment underscores the importance of marital decisions within the family structure and the emotional repercussions that can arise. The preceding verses detail Esau's marriages, setting the stage for this expression of grief.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis 6:2 | the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose. |
| 2 | Genesis 27:46 | Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?” |
| 3 | Genesis 28:1–2 | So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. “Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” he commanded. |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 3 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — מֹרַת, Mo.ratgenerated
The noun מֹרָה (morah) signifies bitterness, specifically referring to emotional distress or grief of mind. It is derived from the root meaning bitterness and is used in contexts that convey deep emotional pain.
In this verse, it indicates the profound sorrow experienced by Isaac and Rebekah due to their son's choices, emphasizing the impact of family dynamics on individual well-being.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
The translations are consistent in rendering the word מֹרַת as grief, with the BSB, KJV, ASV, YLT, WEB, and BBE all agreeing on this interpretation.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The finite verb וַתִּהְיֶ֖יןָ (va.tih.Yei.na) governs the sentence, with a noun phrase serving as the object, indicating the source of the grief. The structure highlights the cause-and-effect relationship between Esau's actions and the emotional state of his parents.
The order of the Hebrew words emphasizes the subject and the resulting emotional impact, drawing attention to the grief brought upon Isaac and Rebekah.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates וַתִּהְיֶ֖יןָ as ἦσαν (ēsan), meaning 'they were.' This choice reflects a direct connection to the state of being of Isaac and Rebekah, emphasizing their emotional condition.
The translation captures the essence of the grief as a state of existence, aligning with the Hebrew meaning.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Genesis 26:35 tells us that Esau's choice of wives caused deep sorrow to his parents, Isaac and Rebekah. This verse highlights how family decisions can lead to significant emotional distress.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
The grief refers to the emotional pain and distress felt by Isaac and Rebekah due to Esau's choice of wives.
Esau's age is mentioned to provide context for the decisions he made and to indicate the stage of life he was in when these choices were made.
This verse connects to the broader narrative of family dynamics and the consequences of individual choices within the patriarchal stories.
Their reaction illustrates the emotional stakes involved in familial relationships and the impact of personal decisions on loved ones.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- How do family choices affect relationships in my own life?
- What are some ways I can support family members in their decisions?
- How can I learn from the experiences of Isaac and Rebekah?
- In what ways can I navigate difficult family dynamics with grace?
The early church on this verse — how the Fathers read it
Early commentary on this verse highlights the implications of Esau's choices on his parents, as noted by John Chrysostom in his homilies.
See how much can be learned from these few words. I mean, why did it indicate to us Esau’s age? Not idly, but for us to learn from it Isaac’s advanced years and the fact that he was now well beyond his prime.Early Church Fathers on Genesis 26 →
Commentators on this verse — 6 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Genesis 26:35 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleWhich were a grief of mind unto Isaac, and to Rebekah. The marriage of them itself was a trouble to them, it being contrary to their will that any of their children should marry with the Canaanites,
Read John Gill on Genesis 26 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryWhich were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
Read Robert Jamieson on Genesis 26 →Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy BibleBecause to their idolatry and other wickedness they added obstinacy and incorrigibleness, despising their persons and godly counsels, whereby they invited them to repentance.
Read Matthew Poole on Genesis 26 →John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New TestamentsGenesis 26:35 Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.Ver. 35. Which were a grief.] Because idolatresses, and untractable; because given up by God.
Read John Trapp on Genesis 26 →AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the BibleVerse 35. Which were a grief of mind] Not the marriage, though that was improper, but the persons; they, by their perverse and evil ways, brought bitterness into the hearts of Isaac and Rebekah. The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, and that of Jerusalem, say they were addicted to idol worship, and rebelled against and would not hearken to the instructions either of Isaac or Rebekah. From Canaanites a different conduct could not be reasonably expected. Esau was far from being spiritual, and his wives were wholly carnal. THE same reflections which were suggested by Abraham's conduct in denying his wife in Egypt and Gerar, will apply to that of Isaac; but the case of Isaac was much less…
Read AdamClarke on Genesis 26 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges35. a grief of mind] Heb. bitterness of spirit. Cf. Genesis 27:46, Genesis 28:8. Isaac and Rebekah regarded a mixed marriage with the people of the land as a source of dishonour to the race; cf. Genesis 24:3. By “a grief of mind” we should understand soreness and disappointment; cf. Proverbs 14:10. The LXX ἐρίζουσαι, Lat. offenderant animam, took the meaning to be that Judith and Basemath were quarrelsome, and had given offence to Esau’s parents.
Read Cambridge on Genesis 26 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
And they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
They grieved Isaac’s and Rebekah’s spirits.
And they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
They caused Isaac and Rebekah great anxiety.
Tyndale line
Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
and they were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
and they were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
Who were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.
And they were a griefe of minde to Izhak and to Rebekah.
Strictly literal
And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and to Rebecca.
and they are a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.
and they are a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.
And they were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
They brought sorrow to Isaac and Rebekah.
From the Latin
And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebecca.
Simplified
They caused Isaac and Rebekah a great deal of grief.
And Isaac and Rebekah had grief of mind because of them.
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text and the Septuagint largely agree in their wording, with the Septuagint providing a close correspondence to the Hebrew. However, the Samaritan Pentateuch differs by using the word תהיינה (be) instead of the Hebrew form, indicating a slight variation in the expression of the verb.
וַתִּהְיֶ֖יןָ מֹ֣רַת ר֑וּחַ לְיִצְחָ֖ק וּלְרִבְקָֽה׃ ס
4 of the 5 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
ותהיינה מרת רוח ליצחק ולרבקה
1 word differs from the Masoretic Text: תהיינה (be)
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in Genesis 26:35
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
The Hebrew word הָיָה (hayah) is a primitive root meaning to exist or become, and it encompasses a range of meanings including to happen, occur, and come to pass. It is often used in narrative contexts, particularly in phrases like "and it came to pass." The word can also denote a state of being or existence, and it appears frequently in various forms throughout the Old Testament.
הָיָה 3570 vb. fall out, come to pass, become, be
Qal
Fall out, happen
occur, take place, come about, come to pass
esp. & very oft., come about, come to pass
וַיְהִי and it came to pass that, most often (c. 292 t.)
rarely also Pf. c. וְ conj. וְהָיָה
less oft. וְהָיָה Pf. consec. and it shall come to pass, or frequentat. came to pass (repeatedly, etc.)
Come into being, become
abs., in lively narrative, arise, appear, come
sq. prep.
become
sq. pred. noun (to be viewed as implicit accus.)
sq. pred. adj.
become like
sq. pred. לְ pers.
sq. לְ pred.
oft. c. לְ pred. לְ pers.
with עַל and לְ
sts. c. לְ pers. only = became the property of, come into the possession of
Be (often with subbordinate idea of becoming)
exist, be in existence
abide, remain, continue
with word of locality, be in or at a place, be situated, stand, lie
as copula, joining subj. & pred.
H1961 הָיָה fall out, come to pass, become, be .. . . Fall out, happen
. occur, take place, come about, come to pass
. esp. & very oft., come about, come to pass . . וַיְהִי and it came to pass that, most often (c. 292 t.)
. rarely also Pf. c. וְ conj. וְהָיָה
. less oft. וְהָיָה Pf. consec. and it shall come to pass, or frequentat. came to pass (repeatedly, etc.)
. Come into being, become . . abs., in lively narrative, arise, appear, come
. sq. prep.
. become . sq. pred. noun (to be viewed as implicit accus.)
. sq. pred. adj.
. become like
. sq. pred. + לְ pers.
. sq. לְ pred.
. oft. c. לְ pred. + לְ pers.
. with עַל and לְ
. sts. c. לְ pers. only = became the property of, come into the possession of
. Be (often with subbordinate idea of becoming) . exist, be in existence
. abide, remain, continue
1961 hayah haw-yaw
a primitive root (compare 1933); to exist, i.e. be or become,
come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or
auxiliary):--beacon, X altogether, be(-come), accomplished,
committed, like), break, cause, come (to pass), do, faint,
fall, + follow, happen, X have, last, pertain, quit
(one-)self, require, X use.
see HEBREW for 01933
הָיָה (ha.yah) — to be.
1) to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out
1a) (Qal)
1a1) ---
1a1a) to happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come to pass
1a1b) to come about, come to pass
1a2) to come into being, become
1a2a) to arise, appear, come
1a2b) to become
1a2b1) to become
1a2b2) to become like
1a2b3) to be instituted, be established
1a3) to be
1a3a) to exist, be in existence
1a3b) to abide, remain, continue (with word of place or time)
1a3c) to stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated (with word of locality)
1a3d) to accompany, be with
1b) (Niphal)
1b1) to occur, come to pass, be done, be brought about
1b2) to be done, be finished, be gone
Conj | V-Qal-ConsecImperf-3fp — Verb · Qal · sequential imperfect third person feminine pluralHc/Vqw3fp
The Hebrew word מֹרָה (morah) is derived from the root meaning bitterness, specifically referring to bitterness of spirit or grief of mind. It is used in contexts that convey emotional distress or trouble, as noted in Genesis 26:35. The entries consistently emphasize its association with grief.
[מֹרָה] n.f. id. [m.dq.af], cstr. Gn 26:35 (P) bitterness of spirit (= grief of mind).
ref
H4786 מֹרָה bitterness of spirit (= grief of mind)
4786 morah mo-raw'
from 4843; bitterness, i.e. (figuratively) trouble:--grief.
see HEBREW for 04843
מֹרָה (mo.rah) — bitterness.
bitterness, grief
N-fs — Noun common · feminine singular constructHNcfsc
ov:
(1) In Anglo-Saxon, had the meaning "from," "away from" (as the strengthened form "off" has still), and was not used for genitive or possessive relations, these being expressed by special case-forms. In the Norman period, however, "of" was taken to represent the French de (a use well developed by the time of Chaucer), and in the Elizabethan period both senses of "of" were in common use. But after about 1600 the later force of the word became predominant, and in the earlier sense (which is now practically obsolete) it was replaced by other prepositions. In consequence the King James Version (and in some cases the Revised Version (British and American)) contains many uses of "of" that are no longer familiar--most of them, to be sure, causing no difficulty, but there still being a few responsible for real obscurities.
OF, preposition ov. [Gr.]
1. From or out of; proceeding from, as the cause, source, means, author or agent bestowing.
I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you. 1 Corinthians 11:1.
For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts. Joshua 11:1.
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.
Lamentations 3:1.
The whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Proverbs 16:1.
Go, inquire of the Lord for me. 2 Chronicles 34:2.
That holy thing that shall be born of thee. Luke 1:1.
Hence of is the sign of the genitive case, the case that denotes production; as the son of man, the son proceeding from man, produced from man. This is the primary sense, although we now say, produced by man. 'Part of these were slain; ' that is, a number separate, for part denotes a division; the sense then is, a number from or out of the whole were slain. So also, 'some of these were slain; ' that is…
רוּחַ (ruach) means breath, wind, or spirit. It encompasses various meanings, including the breath of life, emotional disposition, and the spirit of God. The term can refer to both physical phenomena, like wind, and abstract concepts, such as moral character or mental acts. Notably, it is used frequently in the context of divine inspiration and the Holy Spirit.
רוּחַ 378 n.f. (less oft. m.) breath, wind, spirit
breath of mouth or nostrils (33 t.)
wind (117 t.)
spirit, as that which breathes quickly in animation or agitation = temper, disposition (76 t.)
spirit of the living, breathing being
spirit as seat of emotion
occasionally (and late) = seat or organ of mental acts
rarely of the will
רוּחַ esp. of moral character
spirit of God (94 t.)
base
H7307 רוּחַ breath, wind, spirit . breath of mouth or nostrils (33 t.)
. wind (117 t.)
. spirit, as that which breathes quickly in animation or agitation = temper, disposition (76 t.)
. spirit of the living, breathing being
. spirit as seat of emotion
. occasionally (and late) = seat or organ of mental acts
. rarely of the will
. רוּחַ esp. of moral character
. spirit of God (94 t.)
7307 ruwach roo'-akh
from 7306; wind; by resemblance breath, i.e. a sensible (or
even violent) exhalation; figuratively, life, anger,
unsubstantiality; by extension, a region of the sky; by
resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including
its expression and functions):--air, anger, blast, breath, X
cool, courage, mind, X quarter, X side, spirit((-ual)),
tempest, X vain, ((whirl-))wind(-y).
see HEBREW for 07306
רוּחַ (ru.ach) — spirit.
: spirit
1) wind, breath, mind, spirit
1a) breath
1b) wind
1b1) of heaven
1b2) quarter (of wind), side
1b3) breath of air
1b4) air, gas
1b5) vain, empty thing
1c) spirit (as that which breathes quickly in animation or agitation)
1c1) spirit, animation, vivacity, vigour
1c2) courage
1c3) temper, anger
1c4) impatience, patience
1c5) spirit, disposition (as troubled, bitter, discontented)
1c6) disposition (of various kinds), unaccountable or uncontrollable impulse
1c7) prophetic spirit
1d) spirit (of the living, breathing being in man and animals)
1d1) as gift, preserved by God, God's spirit, departing at death, disembodied being
1e) spirit (as seat of emotion)
1e1) desire
1e2) sorrow, trouble
1f) spirit
1f1) as seat or organ of mental acts
1f2) rarely of the will
1f3) as seat especially of moral character
N-cs — Noun common · feminine singular absoluteHNcfsa
spir'-it (ruach; pneuma; Latin, spiritus):
1. Primary and Figurative Senses
(1) As Wind, Breath
(2) As Anger or Fury
(3) As Mental and Moral Qualities in Man
2. Shades of Meaning
(1) As Life-Principle
(2) As Surviving Death
(3) Spiritual Manifestations
3. Human and Divine Spirit
(1) The Human as Related with the Divine
(2) Operations of the Divine Spirit as Third Person of the Trinity
4. Old Testament Applications
5. Various Interpretations
1. Primary and Figurative Senses:
Spirit
(Heb. ruah; Gr. pneuma), properly wind or breath. In 2 Thess. 2:8 it means “breath,” and in Eccl. 8:8 the vital principle in man. It also denotes the rational, immortal soul by which man is distinguished (Acts 7:59; 1 Cor. 5:5; 6:20; 7:34), and the soul in its separate state (Heb. 12:23), and hence also an apparition (Job 4:15; Luke 24:37, 39), an angel (Heb. 1:14), and a demon (Luke 4:36; 10:20). This…
A word employed in various senses in Scripture.
1. For THE HOLY, HOLINESS SPIRIT, the third person of the Holy Trinity, who inspired the prophets, animates good men, pours his unction into our hearts, imparts to us life and comfort; and in whose name we are baptized and blessed, as well as in that of the Father and the Son. When the adjective Holy is applied to the term Spirit, we should always understand it as here explained; but there are many places whether it must be taken in this sense, although the term Holy is omitted. See HOLY, HOLINESS SPIRIT.
2. BREATH, respiration; or the principle of animal life, common to men and animal: this God has given, and this he recalls when he takes away life, Ec 3:21. See SOUL.
יִצְחָק (Yitschaq) refers to Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah, whose name means 'he laughs.' The entries indicate that he is a significant figure in the Old Testament, mentioned first in Genesis 17:19, and is the father of Jacob and Esau. The word is built from the root associated with laughter or mockery.
יִצְחָק 108, יִשְׂחָק 4 n.pr.m. Isaac, son of Abr. and Sarah (he laugheth)
base
H3327 יִצְחָק, יִשְׂחָק Isaac, son of Abr. and Sarah (he laugheth)
3327 Yitschaq yits-khawk'
from 6711; laughter (i.e. mochery); Jitschak (or Isaac), son
of Abraham:--Isaac. Compare 3446.
see HEBREW for 06711
see HEBREW for 03446
יִצְחָק (yits.chaq) — Isaac.
A man living at the time of the Patriarchs, first mentioned at Gen.17.19;
son of: Abraham (H0085) and Sarah (H8283);
half-brother of: Ishmael (H3458), Zimran (H2175), Jokshan (H3370), Medan (H4091), Midian (H4080), Ishbak (H3435) and Shuah (H7744); married to Rebekah (H7259);
father of: Esau (H6215) and Israel (H3478)
§ Isaac = "he laughs"
son of Abraham by Sarah his wife and father of Jacob and Esau
Prep | N-proper — Preposition · noun proper masculineHR/Npm
i'-zak:oIT- (CS:HebrewIT+`iruIT-/CS): Eldest son of Caleb (1Ch 4:15); probably to be read Ir, the syllable "-u" being the conjunction "and" belonging to the following word.
I. NAME
1. Root, Forms, Analogues
2. Implication
II. FAMILY AND KINDRED
1. Birth and Place in the Family
2. Relation to the Religious Birthright
3. Significance of Marriage
III. STORY OF LIFE
1. Previous to Marriage
2. Subsequent to Marriage
IV. BIBLICAL REFERENCES
1. In the Old Testament
2. In the New Testament
V. VIEWS OTHER THAN THE HISTORICAL
I. Name.
1. Root, Forms and Analogues:
This name has the double spelling, yitschaq, and yitschaq (Isaak), corresponding to the two forms in which appears the root meaning "to laugh"--a root that runs through nearly all the Semitic languages. In Hebrew both tsachaq and sachaq have their cognate nouns, and signify, in the simple stem, "to…
Isaac
Laughter. (1) Israel, or the kingdom of the ten tribes (Amos 7:9, 16).
(2.) The only son of Abraham by Sarah. He was the longest lived of the three patriarchs (Gen. 21:1-3). He was circumcised when eight days old (4-7); and when he was probably two years old a great feast was held in connection with his being weaned.
The next memorable event in his life is that connected with the command of God given to Abraham to offer him up as a sacrifice on a mountain in the land of Moriah (Gen. 22). (See ABRAHAM.) When he was forty years of age Rebekah was chosen for his wife (Gen. 24). After the death and burial of his father he took up his residence at Beer-lahai-roi (25:7-11), where his two sons, Esau and Jacob, were born (21-26), the former of whom seems to have been his favourite son…
(laughter), the son whom Sara bore to Abraham, in the hundredth year of his age, at Gerar. (B.C. 1897.) In his infancy he became the object of Ishmael’s jealousy; and in his youth the victim, in intention, of Abraham’s great sacrificial act of faith. When forty years old he married Rebekah his cousin, by whom, when he was sixty, he had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Driven by famine to Gerar, he acquired great wealth by his flocks but was repeatedly dispossessed by the Philistines of the wells which he sunk at convenient stations. After the deceit by which Jacob acquired his father’s blessing Isaac sent his son to seek a wife in Padan-aram; and all that we know of him during the last forty-three years of his life in that he saw that GOD, with a large and prosperous family, return to him at Hebron. (Genesis 36:27) before he died there, at…
Laughter, Ge 17:17 18:12 21:6, one of the patriarchal ancestors of the Hebrew nation and of Christ, son of Abraham and Sarah, B. C. 1896-1705. His history is related in Ge 21:1-34 24:1-28:22 35:27-29. He is memorable for the circumstances attending his birth, as a child of prophecy and promise, in the old age of his parents. Even in childhood he was the object of dislike to his brother Ishmael, son of the bondwoman; and in this, a type of all children of the promise, Ga 4:29. Trained in the fear of God to early manhood, he showed a noble trust and obedience in his conduct during that remarkable trail of faith which established Abraham as the "father of the faithful;" and in his meek submission to all the will of God…
רִבְקָה (Ribqah) refers to Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel and wife of Isaac, who is also the mother of Esau and Jacob. The name is linked to the idea of being ensnared, possibly reflecting her beauty. She is first mentioned in Genesis 22:23, and her familial connections include her brother Laban.
רִבְקָה 30 n.pr.f. Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel and wife of Isaac
base
H7259 רִבְקָה Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel and wife of Isaac
7259 Ribqah rib-kaw'
from an unused root probably meaning to clog by tying up the
fetlock; fettering (by beauty); Ribkah, the wife of Isaac:--
Rebekah.
רִבְקָה (riv.qah) — Rebekah.
A woman living at the time of the Patriarchs, first mentioned at Gen.22.23;
daughter of: Bethuel (H1328A);
sister of: Laban (H3837A); married to Isaac (H3327);
mother of: Esau (H6215) and Israel (H3478)
Also named: Rhebekka (Ῥεβέκκα "Rebekah" G4479)
§ Rebekah = "ensnarer"
daughter of Bethuel, sister of Laban, wife of Isaac, and mother of Esau and Jacob
Conj | Prep | N-proper — Conjunction · preposition · noun proper feminineHC/R/Npf
re-bek'-a (ribhqah; Septuagint and New Testament Rhebekka, whence the usual English spelling Rebecca): Daughter of Bethuel and an unknown mother, grand-daughter of Nahor and Milcah, sister of Laban, wife of Isaac, mother of Esau and Jacob.
Her name is usually explained from the Arabic, rabqat, "a tie-rope for animals," or, rather, "a noose" in such a rope; its application would then by figure suggest the beauty (?) of her that bears it, by means of which men are snared or bound; The root is found in Hebrew only in the noun meaning "hitching-place" or "stall," in the familiar phrase "fatted calf" or "calf of the stall," and in view of the meaning of such names as Rachel and Eglah the name Rebekah might well mean (concrete for abstract, like riqmah, chemdah, etc.) a "tied-up calf" (or "lamb"?), one therefore peculiarly choice and fat.
Rebekah
A noose, the daughter of Bethuel, and the wife of Isaac (Gen. 22:23; 24:67). The circumstances under which Abraham’s “steward” found her at the “city of Nahor,” in Padan-aram, are narrated in Gen. 24-27. “She can hardly be regarded as an amiable woman. When we first see her she is ready to leave her father’s house for ever at an hour’s notice; and her future life showed not only a full share of her brother Laban’s duplicity, but the grave fault of partiality in her relations to her children, and a strong will, which soon controlled the gentler nature of her husband.” The time and circumstances of her death are not recorded, but it is said that she was buried in the cave of Machpelah (Gen. 49:31).
(ensnarer), daughter of Bethuel, (Genesis 22:23) and sister of Laban, married to Isaac. She is first presented to us in (Genesis 24:1) ... where the beautiful story of her marriage is related. (B.C. 1857.) For nineteen years she was childless: then Esau and Jacob were born, the younger being the mother’s companion and favorite. (Genesis 25:19-28) Rebekah suggested the deceit that was practiced by Jacob on his blind father. She directed and aided him in carrying it out, foresaw the probable consequence of Esau’s anger, and prevented it by moving Isaac to send Jacob away to Padan-aram, (Genesis 27:1) ... to her own kindred. (
A daughter of Bethuel, and sister of Laban in Mesopotamia, who became the wife of Isaac, and twenty years afterwards the mother of Jacob and Esau. The manner in which she was sought and obtained as the wife of Isaac, exhibits a striking picture of oriental manners and customs. Through her partiality for Jacob, she was tempted into the use of unjustifiable means to secure for him the inheritance, not having faith to leave to God the fulfilment of his own purposes, Ge 25:22,23. Her deceit led to disastrous results: Jacob fled from home; and when he returned from Mesopotamia twenty years afterwards, his mother lay buried in the cave of Machpelah, Ge 24:1-28:22 49:31.