Genesis 46:1

And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a man's name
journey	וַיִּסַּ֤ע vai.yi.Sa'	H5265	properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
came	וַיָּבֹ֖א vai.ya.Vo'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Beer-sheba	בְּאֵ֣רָה be.'E.rah	H884	Beer-Sheba · proper noun, a place name + directional suffix
offered	וַיִּזְבַּ֣ח vai.yiz.Bach	H2076	to slaughter an animal (usually in sacrifice) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sacrifices	זְבָחִ֔ים ze.va.Chim	H2077	properly · noun, common masculine plural absolute
God	לֵאלֹהֵ֖י le.lo.Hei	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
father	אָבִ֥יו 'a.Viv	H1	father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Isaac	יִצְחָֽק yitz.Chak	H3327	Jitschak (or Isaac) · proper noun, a man's name

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 21:33 And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.
Genesis 26:22-25 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For n…
Genesis 28:10 And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.
Genesis 28:13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest,…
Genesis 31:42 Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath…
Genesis 21:31 Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them.
Genesis 21:14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the…
Genesis 4:4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 46:1-4

The divine precept is, In all thy ways acknowledge God; and the promise annexed to it is, He shall direct thy paths. Jacob has here a very great concern before him, not only a journey, but a removal, to settle in another country, a change which was very surprising to him (for he never had any other thoughts than to live and die in Canaan), and which would be of great consequence to his family for a long time to come. Now here we are told, I. How he acknowledged God in this way. He came to Beersheba, from Hebron, where he now dwelt; and there he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac, Gen 46:1. He chose that place, in remembrance of the communion which his father and grandfather ha…

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Adam Clarke on Genesis 46:1

And came to Beer-sheba - This place appears to be mentioned, not only because it was the way from Hebron, where Jacob resided, to Egypt, whither he was going, but because it was a consecrated place, a place where God had appeared to Abraham, Gen 21:33, and to Isaac, Gen 26:23, and where Jacob is encouraged to expect a manifestation of the same goodness: he chooses therefore to begin his journey with a visit to God's house; and as he was going into a strange land, he feels it right to renew his covenant with God by sacrifice. There is an old proverb which applies strongly to this case: "Prayers and provender never hinder any man's journey. He who would travel safely must take God with him.

John Gill on Genesis 46:1

And Israel took his journey with all that he had,.... Set forward in it immediately, as soon as possible after he had resolved to take it, and with him he took all his children and grandchildren, and all his cattle and goods; which shows that he took his journey not only to see his son Joseph, but to continue in Egypt, at least during the years of famine, as his son desired he would, otherwise there would have been no occasion of taking all along with him: and came to Beersheba: where he and his ancestors Abraham and Isaac had formerly lived; a place where sacrifices had often been offered up, and the worship of God performed, and much communion enjoyed with him. This is said to be sixteen…

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The Church Fathers

It is appropriate, for that person rises up who is hastening to Christ. Faith precedes devotion. First Jacob rose up; later he sacrificed. The man who has searched out the knowledge of God offers a good sacrifice. Now "at night in a vision God spoke to Israel, saying, 'Jacob, Jacob.' He said, 'What is it?' God said, 'I am the God of your fathers, do not fear, go down into Egypt; for there I will make you into a great people, and I will lead you forever.' "
— Ambrose of Milan, ON JOSEPH 14.81-82

On hearing this, let us learn in whatever we do, whether embarking on some project or beginning a journey, first of all to offer a sacrifice to the Lord in prayer and, by calling on his help to address the matter in hand, thus also imitate these good people's godliness. "He offered a sacrifice to the God of his father, Isaac," the text says, for you to learn that Jacob followed in his father's footsteps and thus demonstrated the reverence for divine things that Isaac had. Because he took the initiative in showing his own right attitude in thanksgiving, at once he felt the influence of grace from on high. I mean, because he had in view the length of the journey and kept in mind his advanced age, Jacob was afraid that death might come upon him before the meeting and rob him of the sight of his son; so he offered prayers to God to grant him life enough to enable him to enjoy this final satisfaction.
— John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 65.5

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

South — Heb. Negeb, that arid district to the south of Palestine through which lay the caravan route from Central Palestine to Egypt (Gen. 12:9; 13:1, 3; 46:1-6). “The Negeb comprised a considerable but…
Beer-Sheba · .Sacrifices offered at, by Jacob; when journeying to Egypt — .Sacrifices offered at, by Jacob; when journeying to Egypt
Sacrifices · Were offered: By the patriarchs — Were offered: By the patriarchs

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).

Genesis 46:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 46:1-4

Adam Clarke on Genesis 46:1

John Gill on Genesis 46:1

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 46:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 46:1-4

Adam Clarke on Genesis 46:1

John Gill on Genesis 46:1

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Genesis 46:1

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 46:1-7

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 46:1-4

Rashi on Genesis 46:1