Kejadian 24:16

24:16 Now the young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin; no man had ever had sexual relations with her. ¹  She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up.

Kejadian 26:7

26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” ²  He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, ³  “The men of this place will kill me to get ⁴  Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”

[24:16]  ¹ tn Heb “And the young woman was very good of appearance, a virgin, and a man she had not known.” Some argue that the Hebrew noun translated “virgin” (בְּתוּלָה, bÿtulah) is better understood in a general sense, “young woman” (see Joel 1:8, where the word appears to refer to one who is married). In this case the circumstantial clause (“and a man she had not known”) would be restrictive, rather than descriptive. If the term actually means “virgin,” one wonders why the circumstantial clause is necessary (see Judg 21:12 as well). Perhaps the repetition emphasizes her sexual purity as a prerequisite for her role as the mother of the covenant community.

[26:7]  ² sn Rebekah, unlike Sarah, was not actually her husband’s sister.

[26:7]  ³ tn Heb “lest.” The words “for he thought to himself” are supplied because the next clause is written with a first person pronoun, showing that Isaac was saying or thinking this.

[26:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “kill me on account of.”