Genesis 27:29 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 27:29
Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
serve
יַֽעַבְד֣וּךָya.'av.Du.kha
H5647
to work (in any sense) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
nations
לְאֻמִּ֔יםle.'u.Mim
H3816
a community · noun, common masculine plural absolute
down
וְיִֽשְׁתַּחֲו֤וּve.yish.ta.chu
H7812
to depress · conjunction + verb, 3rd person masculine plural
be
הֱוֵ֤הhe.Veh
H1933
to be (in the sense of existence) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
lord
גְבִיר֙ge.Vir
H1376
a master · noun, common masculine singular absolute
brethren
לְאַחֶ֔יךָle.'a.Chei.kha
H251
a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
mother’s
אִמֶּ֑ךָ'i.Me.kha
H517
a mother (as the bond of the family) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
sons
בְּנֵ֣יbe.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
down
וְיִשְׁתַּחֲוּ֥וּve.yish.ta.cha.Vu
H7812
to depress · conjunction + verb, 3rd person masculine plural
cursed
אֹרְרֶ֣יךָ'o.re.Rei.kha
H779
to execrate · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
curseth
אָר֔וּר'a.Rur
H779
to execrate · verb, qal passive participle, masculine singular absolute
blessed
וּֽמְבָרֲכֶ֖יךָu.me.va.ra.Khei.kha
H1288
to kneel · conjunction + verb, piel active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
blesseth
בָּרֽוּךְba.Rukh
H1288
to kneel · verb, qal passive participle, masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Numbers 24:9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curse…
Isaiah 49:23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth,…
Genesis 9:25-26 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
Romans 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Genesis 22:17-18 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon th…
Numbers 22:11-12 Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth: come now, curse me them; peradventure I shall be able to…
Numbers 23:8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 27:18-29
Observe here, I. The art and assurance with which Jacob managed this intrigue. Who would have thought that this plain man could have played his part so well in a design of this nature? His mother having put him in the way of it, and encouraged him in it, he dexterously applied himself to those methods which he had never accustomed himself to, but had always conceived an abhorrence of. Note, Lying is soon learnt. The psalmist speaks of those who, as soon as they are born, speak lies, Psa 58:3; Jer 9:5. I wonder how honest Jacob could so readily turn his tongue to say (Gen 27:19), I am Esau thy first-born; nor do I see how the endeavour of some to bring him off with that equivocation, I am mad…
Let people serve thee--fulfilled in the discomfiture of the hostile tribes that opposed the Israelites in the wilderness; and in the pre-eminence and power they attained after their national establishment in the promised land. This blessing was not realized to Jacob, but to his descendants; and the temporal blessings promised were but a shadow of those spiritual ones, which formed the grand distinction of Jacob's posterity.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 27:29
Let people serve thee - "However alike their temporal advantages were to each other," says Bp. Newton, "in all spiritual gifts and graces the younger brother was to have the superiority, was to be the happy instrument of conveying the blessing to all nations: In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed; and to this are to be referred, in their full force, those expressions: Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee. Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee. The same promise was made to Abraham in the name of God: I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, Gen 12:3; and it is here repeated to Jaco…
Let peoples serve thee, and let their princes bow down to thee, and be thou Lord over thy brethren, and let thy father's sons bow down to thee; cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be every one that blesseth thee. But we see not all these things accomplished upon Jacob, but see rather that Jacob, having prostrated himself seven times upon the ground, made obeisance to Esau. And thirty kings, sprung from Esau, reigned before ever a king reigned in Israel; so that these blessings await Him who was expected to descend from them, namely, the Lord Christ, whom the whole scope of divine scripture has in view.
Afterward the power of blessing is transferred again to the Immanuel himself. "And let nations serve you, and princes bow down to you, and be lord of your brother." The Immanuel was called "the firstborn" when he became so with reference to us, "among many brothers." But for this reason we must not forget that he is God and the Lord of the universe. We worship him as God, and he has reigned as God over those who are called from the brothers through grace. "Who in the heavens shall be compared to the Lord, and who shall be likened to the Lord among the sons of God?" Therefore the Immanuel has reigned as God over those who were received into the brotherhood, and to him "every knee should bow in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father." And cursed is he who curses, "and blessed is he that blesses." These words are quite clear. Those who curse are detestable and hateful to God; those who bless, that is, who announce his divine glory, are filled with heavenly and divine goods. This is the blessing of Jacob, whose strength refers to the Immanuel himself and to those who are justified in the faith.
And also the words "Let peoples serve you, and princes bow down to you" have been accomplished now. Whom else do the faithful peoples serve and the princes of the church worship but Christ, in whose name they also receive their salvation? The Word has predicted all this through Isaiah by saying, "My servants shall be called by a new name, which will be blessed on the earth; for they shall bless the true God, and those who swear upon the earth shall swear in the name of the true God." And he adds, "Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall hunger; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall thirst; behold, my servants shall exult with joy, but you shall be ashamed and shall cry for the vexation of your spirit."45Then he continues by saying, "Be lord of your brother, and the sons of your father shall bow to you." But nobody adored Jacob, nor did he become lord of his brother Esau; on the contrary, he ran away from him in a fright and was the first to adore him, for seven times. Therefore the words of Isaac have been accomplished in the Savior: He has become lord and master of those who are considered to be his brothers by the flesh, in order to be adored by them as their king. That is why Isaac says, "Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you."
Dictionary and topics
Esau — Hairy, Rebekah’s first-born twin son (Gen. 25:25). The name of Edom, “red”, was also given to him from his conduct in connection with the red lentil “pottage” for which he sold his birthright (30,…
Father — A name applied (1) to any ancestor (Deut. 1:11; 1 Kings 15:11; Matt. 3:9; 23:30, etc.); and (2) as a title of respect to a chief, ruler, or elder, etc. (Judg. 17:10; 18:19; 1 Sam. 10:12; 2 Kings…
Jacob — One who follows on another’s heels; supplanter, (Gen. 25:26; 27:36; Hos. 12:2-4), the second born of the twin sons of Isaac by Rebekah. He was born probably at Lahai-roi, when his father was…
Benedictions · Upon Jacob — Upon Jacob
Craftiness · .Obtaining — .Obtaining
Dishonesty · .Jacob steals his father’s blessing — .Jacob steals his father’s blessing
Edomites, The · Predictions respecting: Subjection to Israel — Predictions respecting: Subjection to Israel
First Born, The · Privileges of: Authority over the younger children — Privileges of: Authority over the younger children
Isaac · .His old age, last blessing upon his — .His old age, last blessing upon his
Israel · .Prophecies concerning — .Prophecies concerning
Jacob · Fradulently obtains his father’s blessing — Fradulently obtains his father’s blessing
Jews, The · Denunciations against those who: Cursed
Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee,.... Which was literally true in the times of Joshua and the judges, when the Canaanites were conquered and subdued, and those that remained became tributary to the Israelites; and still more so in the times of David, a son of Jacob, in the line of Judah, when the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, Ammonites, and Edomites, became subject to him, his servants and tributaries; and yet more so in the times of the Messiah that was to spring from Jacob, and did, to whom many nations have been already subject, and all will in the latter day, Psalm 72:11. And this passage is applied to the Messiah, and his times, by the Jews, in an ancient book (y) o…
Cursed be every one that curseth thee. What I have before said must be remembered, namely, that these are not bare wishes, such as fathers are wont to utter on behalf of their children, but that promises of God are included in them; for Isaac is the authorized interpreter of God, and the instrument employed by the Holy Spirit; and therefore, as in the person of God, he efficaciously pronounces those accursed who shall oppose the welfare of his son. This then is the confirmation of the promise, by which God, when he receives the faithful under his protection, declares that he will be an enemy to their enemies. The whole force of the benediction turns to this point, that God will prove himself…
After his father, in order to get rid of his suspicion about the voice, had asked him once more, "Art thou really my son Esau?" and Jacob had replied, "I am" (אני = yes), he told him to hand him the savoury dish that he might eat. After eating, he kissed his son as a sing of his paternal affection, and in doing so he smelt the odour of his clothes, i.e., the clothes of Esau, which were thoroughly scented with the odour of the fields, and then imparted his blessing (Gen 27:27-29). The blessing itself is thrown, as the sign of an elevated state of mind, into the poetic style of parallel clauses, and contains the peculiar forms of poetry, such as ראה for הנּה, הוה for היה, etc. The smell of the…
Isaac voiced his suspicion three times but was finally deceived by his senses, which were not functioning well (see study note on 27:1-4).
Rashi on Genesis 27:29
בני אמך THY MOTHER’S SONS — Jacob, however, said to Judah (49:8) “Thy father’s sons (shall bow down to thee]”, because he had sons by several wives, but here, because he (Isaac) had but one wife he said “thy mother’s sons” (Genesis Rabbah 66:4).
ארריך ארור ומברכיך ברוך THEY THAT CURSE THEE SHALL BE CURSED AND THEY THAT BLESS THEE SHALL BE BLESSED — But in the case of Balaam Scripture says (Numbers 24:9) “Blessed be everyone that blesseth thee and cursed be every one that curseth thee”. The explanation is: the righteous have sufferings first and happiness afterwards, so that in point of time those who curse and afflict them (cause them suffering) come before those who bless them (cause them…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
— Denunciations against those who: Cursed
Parents · . — .
Patriarchal Government · Exercised in: Blessing and cursing their children — Exercised in: Blessing and cursing their children
Rebekah (Rebecca) · Prompts Jacob to — Prompts Jacob to
Rulers · Patriarchal — Patriarchal
Salutations · By bowing — By bowing
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
