Commentaries Dictionaries Concordances

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Genesis 28:17

How dreadful This adjective is rendered unsuitable by colloquial usage. The sense would be better given by "awesome" or "terrible." Jacob believes that he has been in the presence of Jehovah and of the heavenly host. The belief that those who saw "the angel of the Lord" face to face would die is expressed in the terror of Jacob. Cf. Judges 6:22-23; Judges 13:21-22.

the house of God Heb. bêth Elohim, i.e. "a dwelling-place of the Divine Being." This clause contains the popular etymology of the name Bethel.

Continues after advertising

See also Genesis 28:17 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Genesis 28:17. _HOW DREADFUL_ IS _THIS PLACE!_] The appearance of the _ladder_, the _angels_, and the _Divine glory_ at the top of the ladder, must have left deep, solemn, and even awful impress...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    - Jacob’s Journey to Haran 3. קהל _qâhāl_, “congregation.” 9. מחלת _māchălat_, Machalath, “sickness, or a harp.” 19. לוּז _lûz_, Luz, “almond.” The blessing of his sons was the last passage in...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 28 JACOB'S DEPARTURE TO PADAN-ARAM AND HIS VISION _ 1. Isaac sends Jacob away and gives his blessing (Genesis 28:1)_ 2. Esau's action (Genesis 28:6) 3. Jacob's vision and vow (Genesis 28:10...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    YAHWEH REVEALS HIMSELF TO JACOB AT BETHEL. This section is taken from J and E. To E Genesis 28:11 f., Genesis 28:17 f., Genesis 28:20_ a_,...

  • B. W. Johnson's Bible Commentary

    HOW DREADFUL IS THIS PLACE! The idea is, How awe-inspiring! The wonderful vision had left. deep and solemn impression on his mind. THIS IS NONE OTHER BUT THE HOUSE OF GOD. He declares that it is. p...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    THE HOUSE OF GOD. This "house" is the place where God meets the unworthy in _grace._ It was so with David (1 Chronicles 22:1). It is so for us. Our "place of worship" is where God manifests Himself to...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 45 JACOB’S PILLAR AT BETH-EL Genesis 28:16. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep; and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    4. _Jacob's Dream-Vision at Bethel_ (Genesis 28:10-17). _The Dream Ladder and the Angels._ Jacob went out from Beersheba (Genesis 26:25)and set out toward Haran. Note the following differences of view...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _AND HE WAS AFRAID, AND SAID, HOW DREADFUL IS THIS PLACE! THIS IS NONE OTHER BUT THE HOUSE OF GOD, AND THIS IS THE GATE OF HEAVEN._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    JACOB DEPARTS FOR PADAN-ARAM. HIS DREAM AT BETHEL 1-4. Isaac bids Jacob seek one of the daughters of his uncle Laban in marriage, and assures him that the blessings and promises bestowed on Abraham s...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    GOD’S ANCIENT PEOPLE GENESIS _ALUN OWEN_ CHAPTER 28 JACOB SETS OUT ON HIS JOURNEY V1 Then Isaac called Jacob and he blessed him. He *commanded him, ‘Do not marry a *Canaanite woman. V2 Go to the...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    THE TÔLDÔTH ISAAC (Genesis 25:19 to Genesis 35:29). THE BIRTH OF ISAAC’S SONS. Abraham begat Isaac — The _Tôldôth_ in its original form gave probably a complete genealogy of Isaac, tracing up his des...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    HOW DREADFUL. — The manifestation of God must always inspire awe and dread, but not fear: for where He reveals Himself, there is “the gate of heaven” — the appointed entrance for prayer now, and for a...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וַ יִּירָא֙ וַ יֹּאמַ֔ר מַה ־נֹּורָ֖א הַ

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    JACOB'S VISION AT BETHEL Genesis 28:10 This is the Ladder chapter, in which a wayward, weak man is seen holding fellowship with the Eternal God, who loves us, notwithstanding our unworthiness, and de...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Here Jacob is seen exiled from his home, flying from Beersheba. In this connection we have the account of the first of the direct divine communications to him. Tired and weary, he reached Luz and duri...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    JACOB LEFT CANAAN Isaac agreed with Rebekah in the matter of a wife for Jacob. He sent him to Laban's house to find a wife. Isaac also gave Jacob the blessing of Abraham from God. When Esau realized...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    And he was (f) afraid, and said, How dreadful [is] this place! this [is] none other but the house of God, and this [is] the gate of heaven. (f) He was touched with a godly fear and reverence....

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    Revelation 1:17; Matthew 17:6....

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    Having already shown the position of Isaac, I resume briefly with the remark that he stands before us clearly as the representative of the Son, and this too as dead, risen, and in heaven. All will und...

  • James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

    _‘HALLOWED GROUND’_ “How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’ Genesis 28:17 I. IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE FRESHNESS OF JACOB’S SENSE OF RECEN...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    17._And he was afraid, and said_. It seems surprising that Jacob should fear, when God spoke so graciously to him; or that he should call that place “dreadful,” where he had been filled with incredibl...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    Jacob becomes now the picture of cast-out and wandering Israel, heir of the promises, watched over, but an outcast. The wanderings of Abraham were in the land of promise; those of Jacob, out of it: tw...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    AND HE WAS AFRAID,.... Not with a servile but filial fear; not with a fear of the wrath and displeasure of God, but with a fear of his grace and goodness; not with a fear of distrust of it, of which h...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    _And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful [is] this place! this [is] none other but the house of God, and this [is] the gate of heaven._ Ver. 17. _How dreadful is this place!_] The place of God's pu...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _He was afraid_ So far was he from being puffed up with this divine vision. The more we see of God, the more cause we see for holy fear and blushing before him. Those to whom God is pleased to manifes...

  • KJV Original Language Details

    1 Isaac blesseth Iacob, and sendeth him to Padan Aram. 6 Esau marrieth Mahalal the daughter of Ishmael. 10 The Vision of Iacobs ladder. 18 The stone of Bethel. 20 Iacobs vow. 1 AND Isaac called I...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    JACOB'S VOW...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    And he was afraid, filled with reverent awe, AND SAID, HOW DREADFUL IS THIS PLACE! Cf Exodus 3:5. The associations of this place would ever afterward fill his mind with that holy fear and reverence wh...

  • Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures

    C. JACOB.-ISRAEL, THE WRESTLER WITH GOD, AND HIS WANDERINGS FIRST SECTION _Jacob’s journey to Mesopotamia, and the heavenly Ladder at Bethel_ GENESIS 28:10-22 10And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, a...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    JACOB SENT TO PADAN-ARAM Though scripture tells us that Isaac loved Esau, he had not done as Abraham had in making sure that Isaac's wife was of his own kindred. Rebekah's words to him now evidently a...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    16-19 God manifested himself and his favour, to Jacob, when he was asleep. The Spirit, like the wind, blows when and where it listeth, and God's grace, like the dew, tarrieth not for the sons of men....

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    HOW DREADFUL IS THIS PLACE, or _venerable, _ both for the majesty of the Person present, and for the glorious manner of his discovery of himself! THE HOUSE OF GOD; the habitation of God and of his hol...

  • Notes on the Pentateuch by Charles Henry Mackintosh

    These Chapter s present to us the history of Jacob at least, the principal scenes in that history. The Spirit of God here sets before us the deepest instruction, first, as to God's purpose of infinite...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Genesis 28:17 afraid H3372 (H8799) said H559 (H8799) awesome H3372 (H8737) place H4725 house H1004 God...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    JACOB MEETS GOD AT BETHEL (GENESIS 28:10) Genesis 28:10 ‘And Jacob went out from Beersheba and went towards Haran.' At this stage Isaac and the family tribe are still firmly situated in Beersheba....

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Genesis 28:10 Jacob makes his brother's hunger an occasion for bargaining with him for his birthright. Esau says, "What profit shall this birthright do to me?" Neither one nor the other knew what good...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Genesis 28:17 I. It must have been the freshness of Jacob's sense of recent sin that made a spot so peaceful and so blessed seem to him a "dreadful" place. Everything takes its character from the con...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Genesis 28 I. If there be little poetic or romantic charm in the history of Isaac, what a wealth of it there is in that of Jacob! A double deceit, followed by banishment from his country; this expulsi...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Jacob at Bethel and the Abrahamic covenant confirmed to him in a dream. CHARACTERS: Isaac, Jacob, Laban, Esau, Ishmael, Mahalath, angels. CONCLUSION: The believer should realize that he is...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Genesis 28:1. _Isaac called Jacob and blessed him._ A heart-rending business to be forced away from his father's house in the 58th year of his age. He went not with a train of ten camels, as were sent...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _How dreadful is this place I this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven_ REVERENTIAL AWE I. It must have been the freshness of Jacob’s sense of recent sin that made a sp...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    GENESIS—NOTE ON GENESIS 28:10 The Lord uses an extraordinary dream to confirm that the divine promises to Abraham will be fulfilled through Jacob. A similar event will take place upon Jacob’s return t...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    GENESIS—NOTE ON GENESIS 28:16 Believing that THE LORD IS IN THIS PLACE, Jacob describes it as the HOUSE OF GOD. The presence of God on earth is clearly central in Jacob’s thinking.

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES.— Genesis 28:11. And he lighted upon a certain place.] “The term means _he fell upon the place,_ as the providential stopping-place incidentally coming upon it, or coming up to it, as t...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION GENESIS 28:10 AND JACOB WENT OUT FROM BEERSHEBA,—in obedience to his father's commandment to seek a wife (Genesis 28:2), but also in compliance with his mother's counsel to evade the wrath...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    So Isaac called Jacob, and he blessed him, and he charged him, and he said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, and go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy moth...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    he was. Exodus 3:6 Judges 13:22 Matthew 17:6 Luke 2:9 Luke 8:35...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    He was afraid — So far was he from being puffed up. The more we see of God, the more cause we see for holy trembling and blushing before him. Those whom God is pleased to manifest himself to, are laid...

Continues after advertising