Genesis 28:3-13

3 Soothly Almighty God bless thee (And may Almighty God bless thee), and make thee to increase, and multiply thee, (so) that thou be into companies of peoples;
4 and God give to thee the blessing of Abraham, and to thy seed after thee, that thou wield the land of thy pilgrimage, which he promised to thy grand-sire. (and may God give thee the blessing of Abraham, and thy descendants after thee, so that thou possessest this land where thou art now living, which he promised to thy grandfather.)
5 And when Isaac had let go Jacob, Jacob went forth, and came into Mesopotamia of Syria, to Laban, the son of Bethuel of Syria, the brother of Rebecca, his mother. (And so when Isaac had let Jacob go, he went forth, and came to Paddan-aram, and to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of his mother Rebecca.)
6 Forsooth Esau saw that his father had blessed Jacob, and had sent him (away) into Mesopotamia of Syria, that he should wed a wife of thence, and that after the blessing he commanded to Jacob, and said, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; (And Esau saw that his father had blessed Jacob, and had sent him away to Paddan-aram, so that he would wed a wife from there, and that after his blessing he had commanded to Jacob, and said, Thou shalt not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan;)
7 and that Jacob obeyed to his father and mother, and went into Syria; (and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother, and had gone away to Paddan-aram;)
8 also Esau proved thereby that his father beheld not gladly the daughters of Canaan. (and so Esau understood by this that his father did not approve of the daughters of Canaan.)
9 And (so) Esau went to Ishmael, and wedded a(nother) wife, without these which he had before (in addition to the two whom he had already wed), Mahalath , the daughter of Ishmael, son of Abraham, the sister of Nebajoth.
10 Therefore Jacob went out of Beersheba, and went to Haran. (And so Jacob left Beersheba, and went toward Haran.)
11 And when he had come to some place, and would rest therein after the going down of the sun, he took (some) of the stones that lay there, and he put (them) under his head, and slept in the same place.
12 And he saw in [his] sleep a ladder standing on the earth, and the top thereof touching heaven; and he saw God's angels going up and going down thereby,
13 and the Lord nighed to the ladder, saying to him, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and (the) God of Isaac; I shall give to thee and to thy seed the land in which thou sleepest.

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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.