Genesis 28:3

3 May El Shaddai bless you, make you fruitful and increase your descendants, until they become a whole assembly of peoples.

Genesis 28:3 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 28:3

And God Almighty bless thee
This is not a new blessing, distinct from that in ( Genesis 28:1 ) , but the same; there it is expressed in general, here the particulars of it are given; and by which it appears, that Isaac's blessing Jacob was a prayer, wishing a blessing from God upon him, and was the prayer of faith, delivered out under the spirit of prophecy; and they are blessed indeed that are blessed of God, and they must needs be blessed who are blessed by the Almighty; for what is it he cannot do or give? The Targum of Jonathan adds,

``with much riches;''

but no doubt all kind of blessings are included, both temporal and spiritual: and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee;
with a numerous offspring: that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
or an "assembly" or "congregation" ^F7 of them; which may all unite in one body and make one nation, as the twelve tribes descending from Jacob did.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F7 (lhql) "in Coetum", Pagninus, Montanus

Genesis 28:3 In-Context

1 So Yitz'chak called Ya'akov, and, after blessing him, charged him: "You are not to choose a wife from the Hitti women.

2 Go now to the home of B'tu'el your mother's father, and choose a wife there from the daughters of Lavan your mother's brother.

3 May El Shaddai bless you, make you fruitful and increase your descendants, until they become a whole assembly of peoples.

4 And may he give you the blessing which he gave Avraham, you and your descendants with you, so that you will possess the land you will travel through, the land God gave to Avraham."

5 So Yitz'chak sent Ya'akov away; and he went to Paddan-Aram, to Lavan, son of B'tu'el the Arami, the brother of Rivkah Ya'akov's and 'Esav's mother.