Genesis 28:3-13

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

13 And there was the Lord standing beside him. "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham and Isaac," he said. "I will give to you and to your descendants this land on which you are lying. ⁴

Genesis 28:3-13 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.
• 4. 28.13Genesis 13.14, 15.

Footnotes

• [a]. a holy place; [or] a place.
• [b]. beside him; [or] on it.