Genesis 28

1So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him, “Don’t get married to a Canaanite woman. 2Go at once to Paddan Aram. Go to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Find a wife for yourself there. Take her from among the daughters of your mother’s brother Laban. 3May the Mighty God bless you. May he give you children. May he make your family larger until you become a community of nations. 4May he give you and your children after you the blessing he gave to Abraham. Then you can take over the land where you now live as an outsider. It’s the land God gave to Abraham.” 5Isaac sent Jacob on his way. Jacob went to Paddan Aram. He went to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean. Laban was Rebekah’s brother. And Rebekah was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

6Esau found out that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram. Isaac wanted him to get a wife from there. Esau heard that when Isaac blessed Jacob, he commanded him, “Don’t get married to a woman from Canaan.” 7Esau also learned that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. 8Then Esau realized how much his father Isaac disliked Canaanite women. 9So he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath. She was the sister of Nebaioth and the daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael. Esau added her to the wives he already had.

Jacob Has a Dream at Bethel

10Jacob left Beersheba and started out for Harran. 11He reached a certain place and stopped for the night. The sun had already set. He took one of the stones there and placed it under his head. Then he lay down to sleep. 12In a dream he saw a stairway standing on the earth. Its top reached to heaven. The angels of God were going up and coming down on it. 13The Lord stood beside the stairway. He said, “I am the Lord. I am the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your children after you the land you are lying on. 14They will be like the dust of the earth that can’t be counted. They will spread out to the west and to the east. They will spread out to the north and to the south. All nations on earth will be blessed because of you and your children after you. 15I am with you. I will watch over you everywhere you go. And I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

16Jacob woke up from his sleep. Then he thought, “The Lord is surely in this place. And I didn’t even know it.” 17Jacob was afraid. He said, “How holy this place is! This must be the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”

18Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head. He set it up as a sacred stone. And he poured olive oil on top of it. 19He named that place Bethel. But the city used to be called Luz.

20Then Jacob made a promise. He said, “May God be with me. May he watch over me on this journey I’m taking. May he give me food to eat and clothes to wear. 21May he do as he has promised so that I can return safely to my father’s home. Then you, Lord, will be my God. 22This stone I’ve set up as a sacred stone will be God’s house. And I’ll give you a tenth of everything you give me.”

Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®

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Berĕshith (Genesis) 28

1And Yitsḥaq called Ya‛aqoḇ and blessed him, and commanded him, and said to him, “Do not take a wife from the daughters of Kena‛an.

2“Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethu’ĕl your mother’s father. And take a wife for yourself from there, from the daughters of Laḇan your mother’s brother.

3And Ěl Shaddai bless you, and make you fruitful and increase you, and you shall become an assembly of peoples,”

4and give you the blessing of Aḇraham, to you and your seed with you, so that you inherit the land of your sojournings, which Elohim gave to Aḇraham.”

5So Yitsḥaq sent Ya‛aqoḇ away, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laḇan son of Bethu’ĕl the Aramean, the brother of Riḇqah, the mother of Ya‛aqoḇ and Ěsaw.

6And Ěsaw saw that Yitsḥaq had blessed Ya‛aqoḇ and sent him away to Paddan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, “Do not take a wife from the daughters of Kena‛an,”

7and that Ya‛aqoḇ had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan Aram.

8So Ěsaw saw that the daughters of Kena‛an did not please his father Yitsḥaq,

9and Ěsaw went to Yishma‛ĕl and took Maḥalath the daughter of Yishma‛ĕl, Aḇraham’s son, the sister of Neḇayoth, to be his wife, besides the wives he had.

10And Ya‛aqoḇ went out from Be’ĕrsheḇa and went toward Ḥaran.

11And he came upon a place and stopped over for the night, for the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.

12And he dreamed and saw a ladder set up on the earth, and its top reached to the heavens, and saw messengers of Elohim going up and coming down on it.

13And see, יהוה stood above it and said, “I am יהוה Elohim of Aḇraham your father and the Elohim of Yitsḥaq. The land on which you are lying, I give it to you and your seed.

14“And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall break forth to the west and to the east, to the north and the south. And all the clans of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your seed.

15“And see, I am with you and shall guard you wherever you go, and shall bring you back to this land. For I am not going to leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

16And Ya‛aqoḇ awoke from his sleep and said, “Truly, יהוה is in this place, and I did not know it.”

17And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of Elohim, and this is the gate of the heavens!”

18And Ya‛aqoḇ rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a standing column, and poured oil on top of it.

19And he called the name of that place Bĕyth Ěl, however, the name of that city had been Luz previously.

20And Ya‛aqoḇ made a vow, saying, “Seeing Elohim is with me, and has kept me in this way that I am going, and has given me bread to eat and a garment to put on –

21when I have returned to my father’s house in peace, and יהוה has been my Elohim,

22then this stone which I have set as a standing column shall be Elohim’s house, and of all that You give me, I shall certainly give a tenth to You.”

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