Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
Parallel translations
- KJV And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
- BSB So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. “Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” he commanded.
- NKJV Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.
- NASB So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him, saying to him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.
- NLT So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and said, “You must not marry any of these Canaanite women.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Isaac formally blesses Jacob and commands him not to marry a Canaanite woman.
Overview
Isaac now knowingly and deliberately commissions Jacob as the heir, no longer deceived but acting in faith. The prohibition against Canaanite wives guards the purity of the covenant line from the idolatry of the surrounding nations. This concern for godly marriage anticipates the New Testament call for believers not to be unequally yoked, keeping the people of God distinct and holy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Gen 28:3–4May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples,
- Gen 24:3I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live.
- Gen 27:46Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?”
- Gen 24:37My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live,
- 2 Cor 6:14–16Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
- Gen 6:2God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.
- Gen 26:34–35When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
- Gen 49:28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his blessing.
- Exod 34:15–16“Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;
- Josh 22:7Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given inheritance in Bashan; but to the other half gave Joshua among their brothers beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them,
- Gen 27:27–33He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, “Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed.
- Deut 33:1This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
- Gen 27:4Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die.”
- Gen 34:16then will we give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.
- Gen 48:15He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
- Gen 34:9Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 28:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.