Genesis 28:1-5

1 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him: “Do not marry a Canaanite woman.
2 Go at once to Paddan Aram,[a] to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
3 May God Almighty[b] bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.
4 May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now reside as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”
5 Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Genesis 28:1-5 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 28

In this chapter an account is given of the charge Isaac gave to Jacob not to marry a Canaanitess, but to go to Padanaram, and take a wife from his mother's family, and of his blessing him before he sent him away, Ge 28:1-5; of the notice that Esau took of this blessing and charge, which led him to take a wife of the family of Ishmael, Ge 28:6-9; of the dream of the ladder, which Jacob had in his way to Haran, Ge 28:10-12; of the blessing which God conferred upon him there, Ge 28:13-15; of the awfulness of the place upon his awaking, and of his erecting a pillar in it, and giving a name to it, Ge 28:16-19; and of the vow he made to God, should he be supplied with the necessaries of life, and be kept in safety by him, Ge 28:20-22.

Cross References 16

  • 1. S Genesis 24:60
  • 2. Genesis 24:3
  • 3. S Genesis 25:20
  • 4. S Genesis 25:20
  • 5. S Genesis 21:21; S Genesis 24:29
  • 6. S Genesis 17:1
  • 7. Genesis 48:16; Numbers 6:24; Ruth 2:4; Psalms 129:8; Psalms 134:3; Jeremiah 31:23
  • 8. S Genesis 17:6
  • 9. S Genesis 12:2
  • 10. S Genesis 12:2,3
  • 11. S Genesis 15:7
  • 12. S Genesis 17:8
  • 13. S Genesis 11:31
  • 14. Hosea 12:12
  • 15. S Genesis 25:20
  • 16. S Genesis 24:29

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. That is, Northwest Mesopotamia; also in verses 5, 6 and 7
  • [b]. Hebrew "El-Shaddai"
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