Genesis 28:3

3 Now, may El-Shaddai bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, so that you become an 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 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him. And he instructed him and said to him, "You must not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

2 Arise, go to Paddan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and take for yourself a wife from there, from the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.

3 Now, may El-Shaddai bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, so that you become an assembly of peoples.

4 And may he give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojourning, which God gave to Abraham."

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

Footnotes

• [a]. Often translated "God Almighty"