Genesis 28:1-9

Jacob's Departure

1 Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him: "Don't take a wife from the Canaanite women.

2 Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you^[a] so that you become an assembly of peoples.^[b]

4 May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham^[c] so that you may possess the land where you live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham."^[d]

5 So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

6 Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to get a wife there. When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman.

7 And Jacob listened to his father and mother and went to Paddan-aram.

8 Esau realized that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women,

9 so Esau went to Ishmael and married, in addition to his other wives, Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son. She was the sister of Nebaioth.

Genesis 28:1-9 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Gn 1:28
• [b] Gn 48:4
• [c] Gn 12:1-3
• [d] Gn 12:7; 15:18