May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a company of peoples.
Parallel translations
- WEB May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples,
- KJV And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
- 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 there He blessed me
- Gen 35:11And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you.
- Gen 17:1–6When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.
- Gen 1:28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”
- Gen 22:17–18I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
- Gen 43:14May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”
- Gen 9:1And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
- Gen 41:52And the second son he named Ephraim, saying, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
- Gen 13:16I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.
- Gen 24:60And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands upon thousands. May your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”
- Ps 127:3Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.
- Rev 21:22But I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
- Exod 6:3I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name the LORD I did not make Myself known to them.
- 2 Cor 6:18And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
- Ps 127:1A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.
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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
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.