Genesis 28:4-14

4 "May He also give you the ¹blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may ²possess the land of your ³sojournings, which God gave to Abraham."

5 Then ⁴Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, "⁵You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,"

7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram.

8 So Esau saw that ⁶the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac;

9 and Esau went to Ishmael, and married *, ⁷besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth.

Jacob's Dream

10 Then Jacob departed from ⁸Beersheba and went toward ⁹Haran.

11 He came to a ¹⁰certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place.

12 ¹¹He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, ¹²the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

13 And behold, ¹³the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, ¹⁴the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it ¹⁵to you and to ¹⁶your descendants.

14 "Your descendants will also be like ¹⁷the dust of the earth, and you will spread out ¹⁸to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and ¹⁹in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

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Genesis 28:4-14 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 19

1. Genesis 12:2; Genesis 22:17
2. Genesis 15:7, 8; Genesis 17:8
3. 1 Chronicles 29:15; Psalms 39:12
4. Genesis 27:43
5. Genesis 28:1
6. Genesis 24:3; Genesis 26:34, 35; Genesis 27:46
7. Genesis 26:34; Genesis 36:2
8. Genesis 26:23
9. Genesis 12:4, 5; Genesis 27:43
10. Genesis 28:19
11. Genesis 41:1; Numbers 12:6
12. John 1:51
13. Genesis 35:1; Amos 7:7
14. Genesis 26:3, 24
15. Genesis 13:15, 17; Genesis 26:3
16. Genesis 12:7; Genesis 15:18
17. Genesis 13:16; Genesis 22:17
18. Genesis 13:14, 15
19. Genesis 12:3; Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4

Footnotes 11

[a]. Lit "seed"
[b]. Lit "in the eyes of his"
[c]. Lit "took for his wife"
[d]. Lit "lighted on"
[e]. Lit "the place"
[f]. Lit "at his head-place"
[g]. Or "beside him"
[h]. Lit "seed"
[i]. Lit "seed"
[j]. Lit "break through"
[k]. Lit "seed"