Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
- KJV And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.
- NKJV Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.”
- NASB Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
- NLT Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your father and grandfather and to your relatives there, and I will be with you.”
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 Lord commands Jacob to return to his homeland and family, promising to be with him. God's presence will accompany Jacob's journey.
Overview
This divine call confirms what circumstances already suggested: it is time for Jacob to leave. The promise 'I will be with you' echoes God's pledge at Bethel and grounds Jacob's obedience in God's faithfulness rather than mere prudence. The assurance of God's abiding presence is a thread running through Scripture, culminating in Christ, Immanuel, 'God with us.'
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Gen 28:15Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
- Heb 13:5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
- Gen 32:9Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’
- Ps 50:15Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”
- 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.’”
- Isa 41:10Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness.
- Gen 21:22At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.
- Gen 35:1Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
- Gen 30:25Now after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland.
- Gen 13:15for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.
- Gen 28:4And may He give the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants, so that you may possess the land where you dwell as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”
- Gen 26:24and that night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham.”
- Gen 46:2–3And that night God spoke to Israel in a vision: “Jacob, Jacob!” He said. “Here I am,” replied Jacob.
- Gen 28:13And 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.
- Gen 28:20–22Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,
- Gen 31:18and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan.
- Gen 26:3–5Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.
- Ps 46:1For the choirmaster. Of the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A song. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble.
- Ps 90:15Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen evil.
- Gen 50:24Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
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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 31:3 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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