Genesis 28:14

14 Your descendants will be as the dust of the Earth; they'll stretch from west to east and from north to south. All the families of the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants.

Genesis 28:14 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 28:14

And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth
Innumerable, see ( Genesis 13:16 ) ( Numbers 23:10 ) ; and thou shalt spread abroad to the west;
or "the sea", the Mediterranean sea, which was west of the land of Canaan: and to the east, and to the north, and to the south;
not of the whole world, but of the land of Canaan: the meaning is, that his posterity should be numerous, and break out and spread themselves like a flood of water, and reach to the utmost bounds of the land on all sides: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed;
that is, in that eminent and principal seed that should spring from him, the Messiah, in whom some of all nations should, as they have been, be blessed with all spiritual blessings, as redemption, peace, pardon, justification, adoption, and eternal life; the same promise had been made to Abraham, was renewed to Isaac, and now confirmed to Jacob, see ( Genesis 22:18 ) ( 26:4 ) .

Genesis 28:14 In-Context

12 And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground and it reached all the way to the sky; angels of God were going up and going down on it.
13 Then God was right before him, saying, "I am God, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. I'm giving the ground on which you are sleeping to you and to your descendants.
14 Your descendants will be as the dust of the Earth; they'll stretch from west to east and from north to south. All the families of the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants.
15 Yes. I'll stay with you, I'll protect you wherever you go, and I'll bring you back to this very ground. I'll stick with you until I've done everything I promised you."
16 Jacob woke up from his sleep. He said, "God is in this place - truly. And I didn't even know it!"
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.