Genesis 28:2-12

2 Go instead to Mesopotamia, to the home of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of the young women there, one of your uncle Laban's daughters.

3 May Almighty God bless your marriage and give you many children, so that you will become the father of many nations!

4 May he bless you and your descendants as he blessed Abraham, and may you take possession of this land, in which you have lived and which God gave to Abraham!" ¹

5 Isaac sent Jacob away to Mesopotamia, to Laban, who was the son of Bethuel the Aramean and the brother of Rebecca, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

6 Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Mesopotamia to find a wife. He also learned that when Isaac blessed him, he commanded him not to marry a Canaanite woman.

7 He found out that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Mesopotamia.

8 Esau then understood that his father Isaac did not approve of Canaanite women.

9 So he went to Ishmael son of Abraham and married his daughter Mahalath, who was the sister of Nebaioth.

10 Jacob left Beersheba and started toward Haran. ²

11 At sunset he came to a holy place and camped there. He lay down to sleep, resting his head on a stone.

12 He dreamed that he saw a stairway reaching from earth to heaven, with angels going up and coming down on it. ³

Genesis 28:2-12 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

• 1. 28.4Genesis 17.4-8.
• 2. +228.10Wisdom 10.10.
• 3. 28.12John 1.51.

Footnotes

• [a]. a holy place; [or] a place.