Genesis 28

^I “Isaac” = Yitschaq. From tsachaq (to laugh, mock, play, make sport; this is laughing out loud whether in joy or in a scornful way). This is Isaac, meaning “he laughs.”
^II “called” = qara. This is to call or call out – to call someone by name. Also used more broadly for calling forth.
^III “Jacob” = Yaaqob. From the same as aqeb (heel, hind part, hoof, rear guard of an army, one who lies in wait, usurper). This is Isaac’s son and his descendants. The name means heel-catcher or supplanter.
^IV “blessed” = barak. This is to kneel, to bless. It is blessing God as part of worship and adoration or blessing humans to help them. It can be used as a euphemism to say curse God.

^V “charged” = tsavah. This is to charge, command, order, appoint, or enjoin. This is the root that the Hebrew word for “commandment” comes from (mitsvah).
^VI “marry” = laqach + ishshah. Literally “take a wife.” Laqach is to take, accept, carry away, receive. It can also have the sense of take a wife or take in marriage. Ishshah is from ish (man); perhaps from enosh (human, humankind, mortal); from anash (to be weak, sick, or frail). This is woman, wife, or female.
^VII “Canaanite women” = bat + Kna’an. Literally “daughters of Canaan.” Bat is from ben (son literal or figurative; also, grandson, subject, nation); from banah (to build or obtain children). This is daughter in a literal or figurative sense. Kna’an is from kana’ (to be humble, subdue; properly, bend the knee). This is Canaan, his descendants, and the land where they settled. This could mean lowlands, describing their land or subjugated in reference to being conquered by Egypt. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan

^VIII “go at once” = qum + halak. Qum is to arise, stand, accomplish, establish, abide. This is rising as in rising against, getting up after being sick or asleep, arising from one state to another, becoming powerful, or rising for action. It can also be standing in a figurative sense. Halak is to go, come, walk. It is walk literally and figuratively and includes people and animals. It can be used figuratively for one’s moral life – how we walk according to God’s way or against it. It can also refer to the walk of life as in the course one’s life takes, the choices we make, etc.
^IX “Paddan-aram” = Paddan aram. 11x in OT. From pada (“to upgrade the operating standard) + rum (rise, bring up, being high, extol, exalt, haughty; to raise in a literal or figurative sense) OR from pada (see above) + aram (Aram, Syria, Mesopotamia – meaning elevated or citadel); {perhaps from armon (any fortified building – castle, citadel, palace)}. This is Paddan-aram, perhaps meaning “ultimate upgrade,” “plain of Aram,” “elevated ransom,” or “new Aramaic standard.” See https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/PaddanAram.html
^X “house” = bayit. Related to “women” in v1. From banah (see note VII above). This is house, court, family, palace, temple.
^XI “Bethuel” = Bethuel. Related to “women” in v1 & “house” in v2. 10x in OT. Perhaps from the same as bathah (end, desolation, destruction); {from the same as bath (bath as a unit of measurement for liquid); probably from the same as battah (precipice, desolation, steep; the root perhaps means to break in pieces)} + el (God, a god) OR from betulah (virgin) + el (God, a god) OR from bayit (see note X above) + el (God, a god). This is Bethuel, which perhaps means “man of God” or “virgin of God” or “house of God” or “destroyed of God.” See https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Bethuel.html#.XuWupEVKhPY
^XII “mother’s” = em. This is a mother as binding a family together or a breeding female animal. It could be mother in a literal or figurative sense.
^XIII “father” = ab. This is father, chief, or ancestor. It is father in a literal or figurative sense.

^XIV “take” = laqach. Same as “marry” in v1. See note VI above.
^XV “wife” = ishshah. Same as “marry” in v1. See note VI above.
^XVI “daughters” = bat. Same as “women” in v1. See note VII above.
^XVII “Laban” = Laban. From the same as laban (white); from laban (to be white or make a brick). This is Laban, meaning white.
^XVIII “brother” = ach. This is brother, kindred, another, other, like. It is literally brother, but it can also be someone who is similar, resembling, or related to.

^XIX “God” = El. Related to “Bethuel” in v2. See note XI above.
^XX “Almighty” = Shaddai. Perhaps from shadad (to ruin, assault, devastate, oppress, destroy completely; properly, it is being burly; figuratively it is something that is powerful) OR from shed (protective spirit) OR shadah (to moisten) OR shad (breast). Perhaps meaning almighty, “my destroyer,” “my protective spirit,” “my rainmaker,” “self-sufficient, “who is abundantly,” or “breasted one” – as the one who abundantly provides or grants fertility/abundance to humans. See https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Shaddai.html#.Xxi6Ep5KhPY
^XXI “make…fruitful” = parah. This is to bear fruit, grow, be fruitful, increase. It is bearing fruit in a literal or figurative sense.
^XXII “numerous” = rabah. This is increasing in any aspect whether quantity, authority, size, quality, greatness, etc.

^XXIII “become” = hayah. This is to be or become, to happen.
^XXIV “company” = qahal. This is an assembly, congregation, or multitude.
^XXV “peoples” = am. From amam (to darken, hide, associate; creating shadows by huddling together). This is people or nation. It can be used specifically for a tribe, collectively of troops or armies, or figuratively to refer to a flock of animals.

^XXVI “give” = natan. This is to give, put, set, offer. It is to give literally or figuratively.
^XXVII “blessing” = barakah. Related to “blessed” in v1. From barak (see note IV above). This is blessing, which implies prosperity or peace.
^XXVIII “Abraham” = Abraham. Related to “father” and “Paddan-aram” in v2. From the same as Abiram (exalted father, a high father – lofty) {from ab (see note XIII above) + rum (see note IX above)}. This is Abraham, father of many nations or father of a multitude.
^XXIX “offspring” = zera. From zara (to sow or scatter seed; conceive or yield). This is seed or sowing. It can, thus, mean a fruit, plant, sowing time, child, offspring, or posterity.

^XXX “take possession” = yarash. This is inheriting or dispossessing. It refers to occupying or colonizing – taking territory by driving out the previous inhabitants and living there instead of them. By implication, it can mean to seize or rob, to expel, ruin, or impoverish.
^XXXI “land” = erets. Root may mean to be firm. This is earth, ground, field land, or country.
^XXXII “live as an alien” = magor. From gur (properly, the act of turning off the road for any reason; sojourning, becoming a guest; can mean being fearful since one is outside of home territory; also dwelling, living, or inhabiting if one has turned off the root to encamp for a longer duration). This is a dwelling place, a temporary lodging. It can also mean to be fearful as one might be in a strange place.
^XXXIII “God” = Elohim. Related to “Bethuel” in v2 & “God” In v3. See note XI above.

^XXXIV “sent…away” = shalach. This is to send out, away, send for, forsake. It can also mean to divorce or set a slave free.
^XXXV “son” + ben. Related to “women” in v1 & “house” and “Bethuel” in v2. See note VII above.
^XXXVI “Aramean” = Arammi. Related to “Paddan-aram” in v2 and “Abraham” in v4. 11x in OT. From aram (see note IX above) OR from rum (see note XXVIII above). This is Aramean – someone from Aram or Syria. See https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Aram.html#.XqfDX8hKhPY
^XXXVII “Rebekah” = Ribqah. From the same as marbeq (fattened, a stall used for housing cattle; root may mean to tie up). This is Rebekah, perhaps meaning tied up or secured. Seehttps://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Rebekah.html#.Xu5ad0VKhPY
^XXXVIII “Esau’s” = Esav. From asah (to squeeze, handle, or press) OR from asah (to do, make, accomplish, become). This is Esau, perhaps meaning rough as something one handles. It could also be doer, maker, or worker. See https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Esau.html#.Xuj8IUVKhPY

^XXXIX “saw” = raah. This is to see in a literal or figurative sense so stare, advise, think, view.
^XL “obeyed” = shama. This is to hear, call, consent, or consider. It implies listening intelligently, giving attention, and, because of these two factors, obedience and action are often implied.
^XLI “not please” = ra’. From ra’a’ (to be evil, bad, afflict; properly, to spoil – to destroy by breaking into pieces; figuratively, to cause something to be worthless; this is bad in a physical, social, or moral sense; that which displeases, to do harm or mischief, to punish or vex). This is bad, disagreeable, that which causes pain, misery, something having little or no value, something that is ethically bad, wicked, injury, calamity. This refers to anything that is not what it ought to be – a natural disaster, a disfigurement, an injury, a sin.
^XLII {untranslated} = ayin. This is eye in a literal or figurative sense so eye, appearance, favor, or a fountain (the eye of the landscape).

^XLIII “Ishmael” = Yishmael. Related to “obeyed” in v7 & “Bethuel” in v2 & “God” in v3 & “God” in v4. From shama (see note XL above) + el (see note XI above). This is Ishmael, meaning “God hears” or “God will hear.”
^XLIV “Mahalath” = Machalath. 2x in OT. Perhaps from the same as Machalath (Mahalath; used above Psalms to denote perhaps the name of a melody; perhaps meaning “sickness”); {from chalah (properly, this is to be worn; hence, being weak, sick, or afflicted; it can also mean to grieve or, positively, to flatter or entreat)} OR from mehola (a dance); {from chul (whirling around so dancing as in a circle or writhing in pain; used particularly for the pain of childbirth or from writhing due to fear; can also be falling in pain or waiting)}. This is Mahalath, a part of the superscript of two psalms. It is probably a tune name and may mean “sickness.” Alternately, it could mean “sad song,” “harp,” “wind instrument,” or “dancing.” See https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Mahalath.html
^XLV “sister” = achot. Related to “brother” in v2. From the same as ach (see note XVIII above). This is sister in a literal or figurative sense. It can also mean another or together.
^XLVI “Nebaioth” = Nebayoth. 5x in OT. From nabat (to behold, look at intently, consider, or scan; to have respect or regard someone favorably) OR from nabah (to be high or noticeable) OR from naba (to prophesy). This is Nebaioth, his lineage and the territory they inhabited. It means “high places,” “seen,” regarded,” “having prophesied,” “visions,” or “scopes.”  See https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Nebaioth.html 

^XLVII “left” = yatsa. This is to go or come out, bring forth, appear. It is to go out in a literal or figurative sense.
^XLVIII “Beer-sheba” = Beerah shaba. From beer (a well or pit); {from baar (to make plain; to dig; can also mean to engrave or figuratively to explain)} + perhaps from shaba (to swear, curse, vow, make a covenant; properly, to be complete; this is to seven oneself – as in affirming something so strongly it is as though it were said seven times) {perhaps from sheba (seven – the number of perfection/sacred fullness)}. This is Beersheba – meaning either “well of seven” or “well of an oath.”
^XLIX “Haran” = Charan. 12x in OT. From Assyrian arranu (road, crossroads, junction of trade routes) OR from charar (to be scorched, burn, glow, dry up; figuratively, to show passion). This is Haran, meaning crossroads. It is also a proper name meaning parched.

^L “came” = paga. This is touch, reach, arrive, come near, strike. This is touching for any reason including sexual or violent.
^LI “certain place” = maqom. Related to “go at once” in v2. From qum (see note VIII above). This is a standing, which is to say a spot or space a place. It can also refer to a locality or a physical/mental condition. HaMaqom is also a Jewish name for God – the place, i.e. the Omnipresent One.
^LII “stayed…for the night” = lun. This is to stop – usually to lodge for the night. It can imply dwelling, enduring, or staying permanently. Figuratively, it can mean being obstinate, particularly with one’s words – to complain.
^LIII “sun” = shemesh. This is sun or toward the east. Its root may mean being brilliant. Figuratively, this could be a ray or an arch.
^LIV “set” = bo. This is to enter, come in, advance, fulfill, bring offerings, enter to worship, attack. It can also have a sexual connotation.

^LV “stones” = eben. This is a stone, weight, or mason. It is part of the word “Ebenezer.”
^LVI “put” = sim. This is to put or place in a literal or figurative sense. It can be appoint, care, change, make, and may other things.
^LVII “head” = meraashoth. 8x in OT. From rosh (head, captain, or chief; excellent or the forefront; first in position or in statue or in time). This is a place for one’s place so it could be a pillow, head rest, or other head piece.
^LVIII “lay down” = shakab. This is to lie down, lodge. It is lying for sleep, sex, or other reasons.

^LIX “dreamed” = chalam. Properly, to bind solidly and so to be plump. This is to be healthy or strong, to recover; figuratively, to dream.
^LX {untranslated} = hinneh. From hen (lo! Behold! If, though; an expression of surprise). This is to draw attention, show suddenness or surprise, or to emphasize the importance of the coming statement. See! Lo! Behold!
^LXI “ladder” = sullam. 1x in OT. From salal (to lift up, build, pile, extol, exalt; can also be used for opposing as a dam holds back water). This is a ladder or a staircase.
^LXII “set up” = natsab. This is to station, appoint, establish, take a stand.
^LXIII “earth” = erets. Same as “land” in v4. See note XXXI above.

^LXIV “top” = rosh. Related to “head” in v11. See note LVII above.
^LXV “reaching” = naga. This is touch, reach, arrive, come near, strike. This is touching for any reason including sexual or violent.
^LXVI “heaven” = shamayim. Root may mean being lofty. This is sky, the air, or heaven. It is in a dual noun form so this might refer to the part of the sky where the clouds move on the one hand and the part beyond that where the sun, moon, and stars are on the other hand.

^LXVII {untranslated} = hinneh. Same as {untranslated} in v12. See note LX above.
^LXVIII “angels” = malak. This is a messenger, an angel, or a deputy of some kind. Can be used for human messengers literally or for prophets, priests, or teachers as messengers of God. Also used for supernatural messengers i.e. angels.
^LXIX “God” = Elohim. Same as “God” in v4. See note XXXIII above.
^LXX “ascending” = alah. This is to go up, approach, ascend, be high, be a priority; to arise in a literal or figurative sense.
^LXXI “descending” = yarad. This is to go down, descend; going down in a literal or figurative sense. It can be going to the shore or a boundary, bringing down an enemy.

^LXXII {untranslated} = hinneh. Same as {untranslated} in v12. See note LX above.
^LXXIII “Lord” = YHVH. Related to “become” in v3. From havah (to be, become) or hayah (see note XXIII above). This is the name of the God of Israel, the self-existent and eternal one, the tetragrammaton. This pronunciation has been lost to time so “Lord” is generally used in its place.
^LXXIV “stood” = natsab. Same as “set up” in v12. See note LXII above.

^LXXV “dust” = aphar. May be related to aphar (to throw dust, be dust). This is dust as powdered, perhaps gray colored. It could be ashes, powder, ground, dry earth, clay mud, or rubbish.
^LXXVI “spread abroad” = parats. This is to make a breach, burst out, compel, disperse. It is to break out literally or figuratively.
^LXXVII “west” = yam. Root may mean to roar. This is the sea, often referring to the Mediterranean. It comes from the root in the sense of the roar of crashing surf. This word is sometimes used for rivers or other sources of water. It can mean to the west or to the south.
^LXXVIII “east” = qedem. Perhaps from qadam (to come in front or be in front; to meet, anticipate, confront, receive, or rise; sometimes to meet for help). This is front, formerly, before, east, eternal, everlasting, antiquity.

^LXXIX “north” = tsaphon. From tsaphan (to hide, hoard, reserve; to cover over or figuratively to deny; also to lurk). This is properly hidden, dark, or gloomy. It can also be used to refer to the north.
^LXXX “south” = negeb. Root may mean to be parched. The Negeb is the south country – sometimes used to refer to Egypt. This is a land that suffers from a lot of drought.
^LXXXI “families” = mishpachah. From the same as shiphcah (maid, maidservant); root means to spread out. This is one’s circle of relatives – clan, family, kindred.
^LXXXII “earth” = adamah. From the same as adam (man, humankind); perhaps from ‘adom (to be red). This is ground, earth, soil as red, or land.

^LXXXIII {untranslated} = hinneh. Same as {untranslated} in v12. See note LX above.
^LXXXIV “keep” = shamar. This is to keep, watch, or preserve. It means to guard something or to protect it as a thorny hedge protects something.
^LXXXV “bring…back” = shub. To turn back, return, turn away – literally or figuratively. Doesn’t necessarily imply going back to where you started from. This is also the root verb for the Hebrew word for repentance “teshubah.”
^LXXXVI “land” = adamah. Same as “earth” in v14. See note LXXXII above.

^LXXXVII “leave” = azab. To loosen, relinquish, permit, forsake, fail, leave destitute.
^LXXXVIII “done” = asah. Related to “Esau’s” in v5. Same as second verb in note XXXVIII above.
^LXXXIX “promised” = dabar. This is generally to speak, answer, declare, or command. It might mean to arrange and so to speak in a figurative sense as arranging words.

^XC “know” = yada. This is to know, acknowledge, advise, answer, be aware, be acquainted with. Properly, this is to figure something out by seeing. It includes ideas of observation, recognition, and care about something. It can be used causatively for instruction, designation, and punishment.
^XCI “was afraid” = yare. This is to fear, be afraid, dreadful. It can also refer to fearful reverence – to fear in a moral sense is to say to revere, respect.
^XCII “awesome is” = yare. Same as “was afraid” in v17. See note XCI above.
^XCIII “gate” = shaar. May be related to sha’ar (to calculate or reckon; may come from a root that means to open up or split). This is a gate, door, or other opening like a port.

^XCIV “rose early” = shakam. This is leaning one’s shoulder into a burden or load, whether a person or an animal. Thus, it meant starting or rising early.
^XCV “morning” = boqer. From baqar (to seek, plow, break forth, admire, care for). This refers to the break of day. So it is dawn, early, morning, or morrow.
^XCVI “set…up” = sim. Same as “put” in v11. See note LVI above.
^XCVII “pillar” = matstsebah. Related to “set up” in v12. From natsab (see note LXII above). This is something stationed so it could be a column, pillar, memorial, image, or idol. It can also mean a garrison.
^XCVIII “poured” = yatsaq. This is to pour out, flow, wash away, or overflow. It can imply melting as one does to cast metal. By extension, it can refer to something being steadfast, stiffened, firmly in place.
^XCIX “oil” = shemen. From shamen (to shine, which implies being oily, growing fat). This is fat, oil, grease, olive oil – often with perfume. Used figuratively for fertile, lavish, rich.

^C “called” = qara + et + shem. Qara is the same as “called” in v1. See note II above. Shem is related to “put” in v11. Perhaps from sim (see note LVI above). This is name, fame, renown. A name was thought to indicate something essential about a person – something about their individuality. So, this word can also mean honor, authority, or character.
^CI “Bethel” = Bethel. Related to “women” in v1 & “house” and “Bethuel” in v2 & “son” in v5 & to “Bethuel” in v2 & “God” in v3 & “God” in v4 & “Ishmael” in v9. From bayit (see note X above) + el (see note XI above). This is Bethel, literally meaning “house of God.”
^CII “name” = shem. Same as “called” in v19. See note C above.
^CIII “city” = iyr. From uwr (to awaken or wake oneself up). This can mean excitement in the sense of wakefulness or city. Properly, this is a place that is guarded. Guards kept schedules according to watches. This sense of the word would include cities as well as encampments or posts that were guarded.
^CIV “Luz” = Luz. 8x in OT. Probably from the same as luz (almond tree or almond wood; may also be hazel) OR from luz (to turn aside). The is Luz, meaning “almond tree” or “twisted.” See https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Luz.html#.Xv6vzChKhPY
^CV “first” = rishon. Related to “head” in v11 & “top” in v12. From rishah (beginning or early time); from rosh (see note LVII above). This is first, former, ancestor, beginning, ranked first.

^CVI “made” = nadar. This is to vow or promise.
^CVII “vow” = neder. Related to “made” in v20. From nadar (see note CVI above). This is a vow – literally, that which was promised.
^CVIII “way” = derek. From darak (to tread, march, to walk. Can also mean affixing a string to a box since one needs to step on it to bend it in the process; so also an archer). This is a road as a thing that is walked on. Can be used figuratively for the path that one’s life takes or how one chooses to live one’s life.

^CIX “bread” = lechem. From lacham (to eat, feed on). This is bread, food, loaf. It can refer to food more generally for people or for animals.
^CX “eat” = akal. This is to eat, devour, burn up, or otherwise consume. It can be eating in a literal or figurative sense.
^CXI “clothing” = beged. From bagad (to cover or conceal; figuratively, to act in a covert or treacherous way, to transgress or pillage). This is clothing, garment, robe, or some other kind of clothing. Figuratively, it can be treachery or pillaging.
^CXII “wear” = labash. This is to wrap around, which implies clothing oneself or someone else. This is wrapping around in a literal or figurative way.

^CXIII “come again” = shub. Same as “bring…back” in v15. See note LXXXV above.
^CXIV “peace” = shalom. From shalam (to be complete or sound; to have safety mentally, physically, or extending to one’s estate; so, if these things are safe and complete, the implication is that one would be friendly; and, if being friendly, one would make amends and that friendship would be reciprocated). This is completeness, soundness, welfare, favor, friend, good health. It is to be safe and figuratively well, happy, at peace, friendly. Abstractly, it includes the ideas of welfare and prosperity (not in excessive wealth, but in having enough).
^CXV “surely give one-tenth” = asar + asar. 9x in OT. From eser (ten, -teen). This is to pay or receive a tenth of something (i.e. a tithe). It can also mean to accumulate. The word is repeated twice – the first time as an Infinitive Absolute. The Infinitive Absolute serves to emphasize the sentiment of the word. It is rather like Foghorn Leghorn’s speech pattern, “I said, I said.”