Genesis 24:18

Genesis 24:18, in plain English

Rebekah immediately agrees, quickly lowers her jar to his hands, and gives him a drink.

Why it's here

Rebekah doesn't hesitate or make him wait. She responds quickly and graciously to his simple request. She's meeting him with kindness. But the real test is coming—what will she do beyond the minimum he asked for?

Who's speaking

Rebekah is speaking and acting in response to the servant's request.

Where it sits in the story

Rebekah's first response shows she's kind and responsive to a stranger's need. She's starting to demonstrate the generosity the servant's test was looking for.

The scholarly reading

Rebekah immediately complies with the request, offering him a drink and lowering her jar into her hands to give him water.

Language and setting

Rebekah's response (שְׁתֵה אֲדֹנִי, sheteh adoni—'drink, my lord') is gracious and immediate. The phrase 'lowered her jar to her hands' (וַתִּשְׁפֹּךְ אֶת־הַכַּד עַל־יָדֶיהָ, vatishpok et-hakad al-yadeiha) emphasizes her physical care and attention—she doesn't simply pour from above, but positions the jar carefully in her own hands to serve.

Voice

Rebekah, responding to the servant's request

Significance

Rebekah passes the first part of the servant's test—she responds to the stranger's need with immediate courtesy, demonstrating the hospitality that reflects covenantal virtue.

16Now the girl was very beautiful, a virgin who had not had relations with any man. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up again.

17So the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from your jar.”

18“Drink, my lord,” she replied, and she quickly lowered her jar to her hands and gave him a drink.

19After she had given him a drink, she said, “I will also draw water for your camels, until they have had enough to drink.”

20And she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran back to the well to draw water, until she had drawn water for all his camels.

Read all of Genesis 24 — A servant, a prayer, a woman at a well. One of the Bible's most beautiful stories of providence unfolds in the smallest details.