Genesis 28:2
1 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. “Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” he commanded.
“Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel, and take a wife from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a company of peoples.
4 And may He give the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants, so that you may possess the land where you dwell as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”
Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- “Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel, and take a wife from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
- KJV
- Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother.
- WEB
- Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
- ASV
- Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother`s father. And take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother`s brother.
- DARBY
- Arise, go to Padan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father, and take a wife thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.
- BLB
- Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, the father of your mother, and take for yourself from there a wife from the daughters of Laban, the brother of your mother.
- ÅB
- Gjør deg rede og dra til Mesopotamia, til din morfar Betuels hus, og hent deg en hustru derfra, en av din morbror Labans døtre!
- OTB
- Stå opp, dra til Paddan-Aram, til Betuels hus, din mors far. Derfra skal du velge en kone fra døtrene til Laban, din mors bror.
- B1930
- Gjør dig rede og dra til Mesopotamia, til din morfar Betuels hus, og hent dig en hustru derfra, en av din morbror Labans døtre!
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Genesis 25:20
and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.
Read in contextHosea 12:12
Jacob fled to the land of Aram and Israel worked for a wife— for a wife he tended sheep.
Read in contextGenesis 24:50
Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we have no choice in the matter.
Read in contextGenesis 22:20–23
Some time later, Abraham was told, “Milcah has also borne sons to your brother Nahor:
Read in contextGenesis 24:15–24
Before the servant had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor.
Read in contextGenesis 35:9
After Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him.
Read in contextGenesis 24:29
Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he rushed out to the man at the spring.
Read in contextGenesis 32:10
I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps.
Read in context