Genesis 27 · Verse 29

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.

Genesis 27:29, King James Version

Genesis 27:29 in other translations

BSB	May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.”
WEB	Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers. Let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. Blessed be everyone who blesses you.”
ASV	Let peoples 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 every one that blesseth thee.
YLT	peoples serve thee, and nations bow themselves to thee, be thou mighty over thy brethren, and the sons of thy mother bow themselves to thee; those who curse thee are cursed, and those who bless thee are blessed.'
DARBY	Let peoples serve thee, And races bow down to thee. Be lord over thy brethren, And let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be they that curse thee, And blessed be they that bless thee.
BBE	Let peoples be your servants, and nations go down before you: be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons go down before you: a curse be on everyone by whom you are cursed, and a blessing on those who give you a blessing.
Webster	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.

What does Genesis 27:29 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

29. 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.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 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 Jacob, and thus paraphrased in the Jerusalem Targum: 'He who curseth thee shall be cursed as Balaam the son of Beor; and he who blesseth thee shall be blessed as Moses the prophet, the lawgiver of Israel.' It appears that Jacob was, on the whole, a man of more religion, and believed the Divine promises more, than Esau. The posterity of Jacob likewise preserved the true religion, and the worship of one God, while the Edomites were sunk in idolatry; and of the seed of Jacob was born at last the Savior of the world. This was the peculiar privilege and advantage of Jacob, to be the happy instrument of conveying these blessings to all nations. This was his greatest superiority over Esau; and in this sense St. Paul understood and applied the prophecy: The elder shall serve the younger, Rom 9:12. The Christ, the Savior of the world, was to be born of some one family; and Jacob's was preferred to Esau's, out of the good pleasure of Almighty God, who is certainly the best judge of fitness and expedience, and has undoubted right to dispense his favors as he shall see proper; for he says to Moses, as the apostle proceeds to argue, Rom 9:15. 'I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.' And when the Gentiles were converted to Christianity, the prophecy was fulfilled literally: Let people serve thee, and let nations bow down to thee; and will be more amply fulfilled when the fullness of the Gentiles shall come in, and all Israel shall be saved."

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 27:18-29

Jacob, with some difficulty, gained his point, and got the blessing. This blessing is in very general terms. No mention is made of the distinguishing mercies in the covenant with Abraham. This might be owing to Isaac having Esau in his mind, though it was Jacob who was before him. He could not be ignorant how Esau had despised the best things. Moreover, his attachment to Esau, so as to disregard the mind of God…

Read the full comment on Genesis 27:18-29 →

Genesis 27:29 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

יַֽעַבְד֣וּךָya.'av.Du.khamay they serve youH5647

עַמִּ֗ים'a.MimpeoplesH5971

וְיִֽשְׁתַּחֲו֤וּve.yish.ta.chuand may they bow downH7812

לְךָ֙le.Khato <the> you

לְאֻמִּ֔יםle.'u.MimpeoplesH3816

הֱוֵ֤הhe.VehbeH1933

גְבִיר֙ge.VirlordH1376

לְאַחֶ֔יךָle.'a.Chei.khato brothers yourH251

וְיִשְׁתַּחֲוּ֥וּve.yish.ta.cha.Vuso may they bow downH7812

לְךָ֖le.Khato <the> you

בְּנֵ֣יbe.Nei[the] sons ofH1121

אִמֶּ֑ךָ'i.Me.khamother yourH517

אֹרְרֶ֣יךָ'o.re.Rei.kha[those who] curse youH779

אָר֔וּר'a.Rur[be] cursedH779

וּֽמְבָרֲכֶ֖יךָu.me.va.ra.Khei.khaand [those who] bless youH1288

בָּרֽוּךְ\׃ba.Rukh[be] blessedH1288

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Genesis 27:29

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 curseth thee.
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.
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, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
Genesis 9:25-26
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
Romans 9:12
It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Isaiah 45:14
Thus saith the Lord, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.
Psalms 72:8
He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.
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 the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
1 Kings 22:47
There was then no king in Edom: a deputy was king.
Daniel 2:44-45
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
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 overcome them, and drive them out. And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed.
Numbers 23:8
How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Let people.
9:25,26; 22:17,18; 49:8-10; 2Sa 8:1-18; 10:1-19; 1Ki 4:21; Ps 2:6-9
Ps 72:8; Isa 9:7; Da 2:44,45; Re 19:16
be lord.
37; 25:22,23,33; 2Sa 8:14; 1Ki 11:15,16; 22:47; 1Ch 5:2
2Ch 25:11-14; Ps 60:1-12; *title
Ps 60:2-12; Isa 63:1-6; Mal 1:2-5; Ro 9:12
cursed.
12:3; Nu 22:11,12; 23:8; 24:9; Zep 2:8,9; Mt 25:40,45

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Genesis 27:28
Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:
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.
Genesis 27:30
And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

Read all of Genesis 27

Genesis 27:29 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Sírvante pueblos, y naciones se inclinen á ti: sé señor de tus hermanos, e inclínense á ti los hijos de tu madre: malditos los que te maldijeren, y benditos los que te bendijeren.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Que des peuples te servent, et que des peuplades se prosternent devant toi! Sois le maître de tes frères, et que les fils de ta mère se prosternent devant toi! Maudit soit qui te maudit, et béni, qui te bénit!
German Elberfelder 1871	Völker sollen dir dienen und Völkerschaften sich vor dir niederbeugen! Sei Herr über deine Brüder, und vor dir sollen sich niederbeugen die Söhne deiner Mutter! Wer dir flucht, sei verflucht, und wer dich segnet, sei gesegnet!
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Et serviant tibi populi, et adorent te tribus: esto dominus fratrum tuorum, et incurventur ante te filii matris tuæ: qui maledixerit tibi, sit ille maledictus, et qui benedixerit tibi, benedictionibus repleatur.