The man gazed at her in silence: it may be necessary to provide a transition to this statement; for example, “While she worked,” or “While she carried the water.” The man may need to be translated “the servant,” to avoid giving the impression that the person watching her is not the servant but someone else. Care should be taken in the translation of gazed at her, as it should not suggest that he is merely looking at her beauty. He is seeking to know if God is revealing the right girl to him. Words like “studied” and “observed” may be suitable. In silence means without saying anything, without speaking. One way of expressing this first part of the verse is “The servant did not speak. He just kept on looking.”

To learn whether the LORD had prospered his journey or not: prospered translates a form of a verb that means “bring to a successful completion,” “cause to turn out well.” We may translate, for example, “to see if the LORD had made him succeed,” “to find out if the LORD had made his trip a success,” “… had given him a successful mission.” As in verse 12, some translations express the success of the mission in terms of its purpose, that is, finding a wife; for example, “He was thinking, ‘Maybe the LORD has brought this girl to the spring to show me that she is the one to be the wife….’ ”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .