Bible Strands
Genesis 37:1
Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had resided, the land of Canaan.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator places Jacob in Canaan at the precise moment the text shifts from patriarchal history to the specific account of Joseph at age seventeen.
The words — וַיֵּשֶׁב (va.ye.shev) means "and he dwelt," paired with מְגוּרֵי (me.gu.rei) meaning "sojournings," which literally frames Jacob's residence as a temporary stay rather than a permanent possession.
The thread — The verse echoes the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 17:8 and Genesis 28:4, where Canaan is promised as an eternal possession, while simultaneously recalling Abraham's own admission in Genesis 23:4 that he dwelt as a foreigner in that same land.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that the promised land remains a place of sojourn for its heirs, establishing a historical baseline for the family's future displacement and return.
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
And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.
Cross-references
- Genesis 17:8 And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”
- Genesis 23:4 “I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”
- Genesis 28:4 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.”
- Genesis 36:7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together; the land where they stayed could not support them because of their livestock.
- Hebrews 11:9 By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.