Genesis 32:9
in Genesis 32Then 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,’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good:
KJV
And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:
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This verse in Genesis 32
Commentary
6 notes on this verse(Verse 9 and 10.) And Jacob said, O God of my father Isaac, Lord, who said to me, Return to your land and I will bless you: I am less than all your mercies, and all your truth, which you have shown to your servant. For because of what we have done, I am less, something else I do not know, which disturbs the meaning, is contained in the Greek and Latin codices.
This site's exposition
O God of my father Abraham
This is the first prayer of Jacob's that Genesis records. He opens on the God of his fathers Abraham and Isaac, a covenant made with two dead men, and claims nothing of his own. He hands the LORD back His own command of Genesis 31:3, to go back to his country and his kindred, the grandson ordered back into the country Abraham was called out of at Genesis 12:1.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Such was the humble self-denying sense he had of his own unworthiness that he did not call God his own God, but a God in covenant with his ancestors: O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac; and this he could the better plead because the covenant, by divine designation, was entailed upon him. Note, God's covenant with our fathers may be a comfort to us when were are in distress.
And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
O God of my father Abraham, etc. - This prayer is remarkable for its simplicity and energy; and it is a model too for prayer, of which it contains the essential constituents: - 1. Deep self-abasement. 2. Magnification of God’s mercy. 3. Deprecation of the evil to which he was exposed. 4. Pleading the promises that God had made to him. And, 5. Taking encouragement from what God had already wrought.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
This is the first recorded example of prayer in the Bible. It is short, earnest, and bearing directly on the occasion. The appeal is made to God, as standing in a covenant relation to his family, just as we ought to put our hopes of acceptance with God in Christ.
The words behind it
16 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּאמֶר֮ | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יַעֲקֹב֒ | yaako | Jacob | H3290 → | 350 times |
| אֱלֹהֵי֙ | ʾelohei | O God of | H430 → | 2601 times |
| אָבִ֣י | ʾavi | father my | H1 → | 1212 times |
| אַבְרָהָ֔ם | ʾavraham | Abraham | H85 → | 175 times |
| וֵאלֹהֵ֖י | velohei | and [the] God of | H430 → | 2601 times |
| אָבִ֣י | ʾavi | father my | H1 → | 1212 times |
| יִצְחָ֑ק | yitzchak | Isaac | H3327 → | 108 times |
| יְהוָ֞ה | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| הָאֹמֵ֣ר | haomer | who said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֵלַ֗י | ʾelai | to me | H413 → | 5510 times |
| שׁ֧וּב | shuv | return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| לְאַרְצְךָ֛ | leartzekha | to land your | H776 → | 2504 times |
| וּלְמוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ | ulemoladtekha | and to kindred your | H4138 → | 22 times |
| וְאֵיטִ֥יבָה | veeitivah | so let me do good | H3190 → | 117 times |
| עִמָּֽךְ׃ | ʾimakh | with you | H5973 → | 1050 times |
וַיֹּאמֶר֮and he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
יַעֲקֹב֒Jacob
yaakoH3290 →350 times
אֱלֹהֵי֙O God of
ʾeloheiH430 →2601 times
אָבִ֣יfather my
ʾaviH1 →1212 times
אַבְרָהָ֔םAbraham
ʾavrahamH85 →175 times
וֵאלֹהֵ֖יand [the] God of
veloheiH430 →2601 times
אָבִ֣יfather my
ʾaviH1 →1212 times
יִצְחָ֑קIsaac
yitzchakH3327 →108 times
יְהוָ֞הO Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
הָאֹמֵ֣רwho said
haomerH559 →5305 times
אֵלַ֗יto me
ʾelaiH413 →5510 times
שׁ֧וּבreturn
shuvH7725 →1056 times
לְאַרְצְךָ֛to land your
leartzekhaH776 →2504 times
וּלְמוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖and to kindred your
ulemoladtekhaH4138 →22 times
וְאֵיטִ֥יבָהso let me do good
veeitivahH3190 →117 times
עִמָּֽךְ׃with you
ʾimakhH5973 →1050 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 31:42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen…
it leads to
- Psalms 31:7
I will be glad and rejoice in Your loving devotion, for You have seen my affliction; You have known the anguish of my soul.
- Psalms 31:7
Through
Genesis 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…
it leads to
- Genesis 13:15
for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.
- Genesis 35:12
The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”
- Genesis 48:3
Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there He blessed me
- Genesis 26:24
and 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…
- Genesis 35:1
Then 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.”
- Genesis 13:15
Through
Genesis 31:3Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
it leads to
- Genesis 28:15
Look, 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…
- Genesis 28:15
Through
Genesis 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.’”
it leads to
- Genesis 31:3
Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
- Genesis 31:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Genesis
Who and where
3 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PersonPatriarchsAbrahamCalled out of Ur, the father of all who believe, justified by faith, and the friend of God through whose seed all nations are bles…
- PersonPatriarchsIsaacThe son of promise and of laughter — bound on Moriah, the quiet inheritor of the covenant.
- PersonPatriarchsJacobThe heel-grasping supplanter reshaped at Peniel into 'Israel, he who strives with God' — father of the twelve tribes.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.