Genesis 28:2

קוּם לֵךְ פַּדֶּנָֽה אֲרָם בֵּיתָה בְתוּאֵל אֲבִי אִמֶּךָ וְקַח־לְךָ מִשָּׁם אִשָּׁה מִבְּנוֹת לָבָן אֲחִי אִמֶּֽךָ׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

ק֥וּם לֵךְ֙ פַּדֶּ֣נָֽה אֲרָ֔ם בֵּ֥יתָה בְתוּאֵ֖ל אֲבִ֣י אִמֶּ֑ךָ וְקַח־לְךָ֤ מִשָּׁם֙ אִשָּׁ֔ה מִבְּנ֥וֹת לָבָ֖ן אֲחִ֥י אִמֶּֽךָ׃

Greek (Septuagint)

ἀναστὰς ἀπόδραθι εἰς τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν Συρίας εἰς τὸν οἶκον Βαθουὴλ τοῦ πατρὸς μητρός σου, καὶ λάβε σεαυτῷ ἐκεῖθεν γυναῖκα ἐκ τῶν θυγατέρων Λαβὰν λαβὰν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τῆς μητρός σου.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

sed vade, et proficiscere in Mesopotamiam Syriæ, ad domum Bathuel patris matris tuæ, et accipe tibi inde uxorem de filiabus Laban avunculi tui.

Spanish

Prepárate y ve a Padán Aram, a la casa de tu abuelo Betuel. Cásate allá con una de las hijas de Labán, el hermano de tu madre.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Levántate, ve á Padan-aram, á casa de Bethuel, padre de tu madre, y toma allí mujer de las hijas de Labán, hermano de tu madre.

English

“ Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel, and take a wife from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

✦ What the text says

Summary

Genesis 28:2 records a series of imperative commands: to rise, go to Paddan-aram, and take a wife from the daughters of Laban, the brother of the addressee's mother. The verse is structured through a chain of construct genealogical phrases identifying Bethuel and Laban by their family relationship to the mother of the person addressed.

Key words

kum ("arise", H6965B) — qal imperative, masculine singular; the first in a series of three command verbs opening the verse.
leKh ("go", H1980G) — qal imperative; paired immediately with kum, forming a common Hebrew idiom of double imperative for "get up and go."
Bei.ta ("house of", H1004M) — masculine singular construct; opens a genealogical chain (house of X, father of Y).
qach ("take", H3947G) — qal imperative; third command verb, introduced by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), governing the object ishah ("a wife", H0802H).
'a.Chi ("brother of", H0251G) — masculine singular construct, linking Laban to "your mother" ('imekha, via suffix H9021) at the close of the verse.

What the text says

The verse opens with two consecutive qal imperatives, kum ("arise", H6965B) and leKh ("go", H1980G), a construction that in Biblical Hebrew often functions as a single urgent directive rather than two separate actions. The destination is marked twice with the directional he suffix (H9011), attached both to Paddan (word 3) and to Bethuel (word 7), indicating movement "toward" each of these named points — first the region, then the specific household within it.

The identification of Bethuel and Laban is built through construct chains: Bei.ta Vetu'el 'avi 'immekha ("house of Bethuel, father of your mother") and later mibbenot Lavan 'achi 'immekha ("from the daughters of Laban, brother of your mother"). Each relationship is expressed through a construct noun ('avi, "father of", H0001G; 'achi, "brother of", H0251G) followed by 'immekha ("your mother", H0517 + H9021), so the family connection to the mother is stated explicitly both times, once for Bethuel and once for Laban.

The final imperative, qach ("take", H3947G), is introduced with the conjunction ve ("and", H9002) and includes the reflexive-benefactive phrase lekha ("for yourself", H9005+H9031), followed by mishSham ("from there", H9006+H8033G), specifying that the wife is to be taken from that same location just named.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Paddan 'Aram (Paddan-aram) as "τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν Συρίας" ("Mesopotamia of Syria"), an interpretive geographic equivalent rather than a transliteration of the Hebrew place name. The Vulgate follows this same rendering with "Mesopotamiam Syriae." For 'achi 'immekha ("brother of your mother", H0251G + H0517), the Vulgate uses "avunculi tui" ("your maternal uncle"), condensing the construct phrase into a single kinship term, whereas the Hebrew and LXX preserve the fuller relational phrase ("brother of the mother"/"τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τῆς μητρός σου").

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.