Thus Isaac sent Jacob away: Thus translates the common Hebrew connective, which serves to conclude the instructions and blessing given to Jacob. We may translate with a word marking a conclusion or a subsequent action such as “After that,” “Then.” Sent is used in the sense of “dismiss,” “made Jacob go.” However, Isaac is not doing this in anger, and the word for sent should not reflect any negative feelings on Isaac’s part.

And he went: the translation went in Revised Standard Version and other versions apparently summarizes the whole of Jacob’s journey. However, there is a fuller description of happenings on the journey in 28.10–29.14, and the transition from the end of verse 5 to verse 10 may raise problems for some translators. See the comments on verse 10 for a fuller discussion. A number of translations modify the form of the verb went in dealing with the transition to the resumption of the story line in verse 10; one approach, for example, is to say “Isaac sent Jacob off to go to Mesopotamia, to Laban….” In one other translation the words “and he [Isaac] sent him off” conclude the paragraph that began at verse 1, and then the rest of verse 5 makes a separate paragraph beginning “Then Jacob left in order to go to the country of Mesopotamia, to stay with Laban.”

To Paddan-aram to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean: Jacob’s destination is upper Mesopotamia (see 25.20) and the family of Laban. Because of the identification of Rebekah’s brother and father, it may be necessary to rearrange verse 5 to say, for example, “Then Isaac sent Jacob off on his trip. He went to Laban in Mesopotamia. Laban was the son of Bethuel the Aramean, and the brother of Esau’s and Jacob’s mother.” For Aramean see 10.22 and 25.20.

The journey from southern Canaan to Haran in upper Mesopotamia is a distance of approximately 800 kilometers (500 miles). See 24.10-11.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .