Bible Strands
Genesis 46:1
So Israel set out with all that he had, and when he came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Israel departs for Egypt with his entire household, pausing at Beersheba before continuing the journey. This event occurs immediately before God addresses him in a vision that night.
The words — The text highlights וַ/יִּזְבַּ֣ח (va/i.yiz.Bach), meaning "and he sacrificed," marking the physical act performed upon arrival. It also uses יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ (Yis.ra.'El) for Jacob as he undertakes this departure.
The thread — This pause at Beersheba echoes Abraham’s earlier worship there (Genesis 21:33) and Jacob’s own departure from the city toward Haran (Genesis 28:10). The location functions as a recurring boundary marker for patriarchal movement and covenantal worship.
Why it lands — The verse records a factual pause for worship before a major migration, requiring the reader to acknowledge the continuity of patriarchal faith. It demands attention to how physical movement is deliberately interrupted by religious practice.
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 Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beer–sheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.
Cross-references
- Genesis 21:33 And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.
- Genesis 26:22 He moved on from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth and said, “At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”
- Genesis 28:10 Meanwhile Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.
- Genesis 28:13 And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.
- Genesis 31:42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.”
- Genesis 21:31 So that place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.
- Genesis 21:14 Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.
- Genesis 4:4 while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
- Genesis 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
- Genesis 12:8 From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD.