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May the All-Powerful God[a] bless you, make you fruitful, and multiply your descendants so that you will give rise to nation after nation! May God give to you and to your children in this inheritance all of the blessings of Abraham, so that you might someday possess the land where you now live as a foreigner—a land that was promised by God to Abraham.

When the Lord told Abraham to leave Haran and travel to Canaan, most of his relatives remained in Northern Mesopotamia in towns between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The area southwest of Haran becomes known as Paddan-aram (the plain of Aram). Abraham and some of the other patriarchs continue to see this land and its people as their own. This is why Jacob and his family are known as Arameans (Deuteronomy 26:5).

So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean and brother of Rebekah (Jacob and Esau’s mother).

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Footnotes

  1. 28:3 Hebrew, El Shaddai

May God Almighty[a](A) bless(B) you and make you fruitful(C) and increase your numbers(D) until you become a community of peoples. May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham,(E) so that you may take possession of the land(F) where you now reside as a foreigner,(G) the land God gave to Abraham.” Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way,(H) and he went to Paddan Aram,(I) to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean,(J) the brother of Rebekah,(K) who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 28:3 Hebrew El-Shaddai