Genesis 28
28
1So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and said, “You must not marry any of these Canaanite women. 2Instead, go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of your uncle Laban’s daughters. 3May God Almighty#28:3 Hebrew El-Shaddai. bless you and give you many children. And may your descendants multiply and become many nations! 4May God pass on to you and your descendants#28:4 Hebrew seed; also in 28:13, 14. the blessings he promised to Abraham. May you own this land where you are now living as a foreigner, for God gave this land to Abraham.”
5So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to stay with his uncle Laban, his mother’s brother, the son of Bethuel the Aramean.
6Esau knew that his father, Isaac, had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to find a wife, and that he had warned Jacob, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman.” 7He also knew that Jacob had obeyed his parents and gone to Paddan-aram. 8It was now very clear to Esau that his father did not like the local Canaanite women. 9So Esau visited his uncle Ishmael’s family and married one of Ishmael’s daughters, in addition to the wives he already had. His new wife’s name was Mahalath. She was the sister of Nebaioth and the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. 11At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. 12As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.
13At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. 14Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. 15What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”
16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” 17But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”
18The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. 19He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although it was previously called Luz.
20Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, 21and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. 22And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”
Currently Selected:
Genesis 28: NLT
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
For more information about the NLT:
Genesis 28
28
1Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him. Then he charged him and said to him, “You must not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. # Ge 24:3; 27:46 2Arise, go to Paddan Aram # Hos 12:12 to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take for yourself a wife from there, from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. # Ge 25:20 3May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a multitude of people. # Ge 35:11; 48:3 4May He give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land where you are a stranger, # Ps 39:12 which God gave to Abraham.” 5Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan Aram to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram to take for himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You must not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan,” 7and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. 8Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please Isaac his father. # Ge 24:3; 26:34–35; 28:1 9So Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, # Ge 36:3 in addition to the wives he had.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10Then Jacob went out from Beer-sheba and went toward Harran. # Ge 11:31; Ac 7:2 11He came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of that place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. 12And he dreamed, # Nu 12:6 and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. The angels of God were ascending and descending on it. # Jn 1:51 13And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, to you will I give it and to your descendants. # Ge 13:15; 26:24 14Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, # Ge 13:14 and in you and in your descendants all the families of the earth will be blessed. # Ge 12:3 15Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. # Ge 26:24; 31:3 For I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you.”
16Jacob awoke out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” # Ex 3:5; Jos 5:15 17He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
18So Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. # Ge 31:13; 35:14 19He called the name of that place Bethel, but previously the name of the city was called Luz. # Ge 48:3
20Jacob vowed a vow, # Ge 31:13; 2Sa 15:8 saying, “If God will be with me and will protect me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21so that I return to my father’s house in peace, # Jdg 11:31 then the Lord will be my God. # Dt 26:17 22Then this stone, which I have set for a pillar, will be the house of God, # Ge 35:7 and from all that You give me I will surely give one-tenth to You.” # Ge 14:20
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version
Copyright © 2024, 2017, 2014 by United Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House. All rights reserved.