You will be free from my oath is used both at the beginning and at the end of this verse. As stated in verse 8 the servant is to be free from the punishment of the oath only if the woman is unwilling to return from Haran with him. Revised Standard Version then makes it appear that you will be free is a consequence of verse 40b. However, that is not the condition for becoming free from the oath: it is only if they will not give her to you. Therefore we may translate as in Good News Translation, “There is only one way for you to be free….” We may also say, for example, “If you go to my relatives and they will not give her [Rebekah] to you, you will be free from the oath you swore to me. That is the only way you will be free from it.”

My oath is as in verse 8, “the oath I am making you swear to me.”

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 .