In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Here I am.’
Parallel translations
- WEB The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’
- KJV And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I.
- NKJV Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’
- NASB Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob’; and I said, ‘Here I am.’
- NLT Then in my dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Yes, here I am.’
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
The angel of God calls Jacob by name in the dream, and Jacob answers, 'Here I am.' God personally addresses Jacob.
Overview
The 'angel of God' here speaks as God himself, identifying as 'the God of Bethel' in verse 13, a striking instance of God's personal self-revelation. Jacob's ready answer, 'Here I am,' echoes the responsiveness of Abraham and others called by God. Many faithful interpreters see in such appearances of 'the angel of the LORD' a foreshadowing of the pre-incarnate Son, though the text does not explicitly say so.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Isa 58:9Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,
- Gen 31:13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a solemn vow to Me. Now get up and leave this land at once, and return to your native land.’”
- Gen 31:5and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me.
- 1 Sam 3:4Then the LORD called to Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.”
- Gen 18:17And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
- Gen 48:15–16Then he blessed Joseph and said: “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
- Exod 3:4When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered.
- 1 Sam 3:16but Eli called to him and said, “Samuel, my son.” “Here I am,” answered Samuel.
- 1 Sam 3:6Once again the LORD called, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” “My son, I did not call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.”
- 1 Sam 3:8Once again, for the third time, the LORD called to Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” Then Eli realized that it was the LORD who was calling the boy.
- Gen 22:1Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.
- Gen 18:1Then the LORD appeared to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre in the heat of the day, while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent.
- Gen 16:7–13Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur.
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 31:11 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.