Bible Strands
Genesis 28:2
“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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Isaac speaks to his son Jacob immediately after pronouncing a blessing, issuing a command before Jacob departs for Mesopotamia.
The words — The imperative לֵךְ (lekh) means “go,” combined with ק֥וּם (kum) meaning “arise,” to form a direct order to depart.
The thread — This directive points to the family origin recorded in Genesis 25:20 and anticipates the later account of Jacob’s flight to Aram detailed in Hosea 12:12.
Why it lands — The passage requires a concrete choice to secure a marriage within the maternal lineage rather than integrating with Canaanite women.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
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.
- Hosea 12:12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram and Israel worked for a wife—for a wife he tended sheep.
- Genesis 22:20 Some time later, Abraham was told, “Milcah has also borne sons to your brother Nahor:
- Genesis 24:15 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.
- Genesis 24:29 Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he rushed out to the man at the spring.
- Genesis 24:50 Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we have no choice in the matter.
- Genesis 28:5 So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.
- Genesis 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.
- Genesis 35:9 After Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him.
- Genesis 46:15 These are the sons of Leah born to Jacob in Paddan-aram, in addition to his daughter Dinah. The total number of sons and daughters was thirty-three.