May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples,
Parallel translations
- KJV And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
- BSB May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a company of peoples.
- NKJV “May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples;
- NASB May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a multitude of peoples.
- NLT May God Almighty bless you and give you many children. And may your descendants multiply and become many nations!
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 invokes God Almighty (El Shaddai) to bless Jacob with fruitfulness and make him a company of peoples.
Overview
Isaac consciously passes the Abrahamic promise of fruitfulness and nationhood to Jacob, using the name El Shaddai by which God had covenanted with Abraham. The blessing looks forward to the twelve tribes—the "company of peoples"—that will descend from him. Here Isaac, by faith, hands on the very promises that will culminate in the nation of Israel and ultimately in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Gen 48:3Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
- Gen 35:11God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your body.
- Gen 17:1–6When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless.
- Gen 1:28God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
- Gen 22:17–18that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your offspring greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gate of his enemies.
- Gen 43:14May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”
- Gen 9:1God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth.
- Gen 41:52The name of the second, he called Ephraim: “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
- Gen 13:16I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring may also be counted.
- Gen 24:60They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, “Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them.”
- Ps 127:3Behold, children are a heritage of Yahweh. The fruit of the womb is his reward.
- Rev 21:22I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple.
- Exod 6:3and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them.
- 2 Cor 6:18I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
- Ps 127:1A Song of Ascents. By Solomon. Unless Yahweh builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless Yahweh watches over the city, the watchman guards it in vain.
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 28:3 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
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