Genesis 28
28
1#Ge 24:3; 27:46Then 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. 2#Ge 25:20; Hos 12:12Arise, go to Paddan Aram 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. 3#Ge 35:11; 48:3May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a multitude of people. 4#Ge 12:7; Ps 39:12May 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, 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, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
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. 8#Ge 24:3; 26:34–35Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please Isaac his father. 9#Ge 36:3So Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, in addition to the wives he had.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10#Ge 11:31; Ac 7:2Then Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Harran. 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. 12#Jn 1:51; Nu 12:6He dreamed and saw a ladder set up on the earth with the top of it reaching to heaven. The angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13#Ge 13:15; 26:24The 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. 14#Ge 12:3; 13:14Your 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, and in you and in your descendants all the families of the earth will be blessed. 15#Ge 26:24; 31:3Remember, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you.”
16#Ex 3:5; Jos 5:15Jacob awoke out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 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.”
18#Ge 35:14; 31:13So 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. 19#Ge 48:3He called the name of that place Bethel, but previously the name of the city was called Luz.
20#Ge 31:13; 2Sa 15:8Jacob vowed a vow, 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, 21#Dt 26:17; Jdg 11:31so that I return to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord will be my God. 22#Ge 14:20; 35:7Then this stone, which I have set for a pillar, will be the house of God, and from all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
Military Bible Association
Genesis 28
28
1Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. “Don't marry a Canaanite woman,” he ordered him. 2“Leave right away and go to Paddan-aram, to the home of Bethuel, your mother's father. Find yourself a wife there—a daughter of Laban, your mother's brother. 3God Almighty bless you and may your descendants be so numerous that you become the ancestor of many nations. 4May he grant you and your descendants the same blessing he gave to Abraham, so that you may take over the land where you now live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”
5So Isaac sent Jacob on his way. He traveled to Paddan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean. Laban was the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6Esau found out that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan-aram to find a wife there, and that when he blessed him he ordered him, “Don't marry a Canaanite woman.” 7He also discovered that Jacob had done what his father and mother told him and had left for Paddan-aram. 8This made Esau realize how much his father disliked Canaanite women. 9So he went to Ishmael's family and married an additional wife—Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth.
10In the meantime Jacob had set off from Beersheba on his way to Haran. 11He arrived after sunset at a particular place and stopped there for the night. He picked up a stone, put it under his head, lay down and went to sleep.
12He dreamed he saw a stairway that started on earth, and the top reached all the way into heaven. He saw God's angels going up and down on it. 13Then he saw the Lord standing over him,#28:13. “Over him”: or, “over it.” who said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham, and the God of Isaac. I'm giving you and your descendants the land you're lying on. 14Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth, and will spread out west and east, and north and south. Everyone on earth will be blessed by your descendants. 15Listen! I am with you and will take care of you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this country. I won't leave you because I'm going to do what I've promised you.”
16When Jacob woke up he said to himself, “The Lord is right here, in this place, and I didn't realize it!”#28:16. Jacob seems to be surprised that the Lord is present in some random location and not in some regular “sacred place.” 17He became frightened and said, “This is a scary place! It must be the house of God and the entrance to heaven.”
18When Jacob got up in the morning he took the stone he'd put under his head and set it upright as a stone pillar and poured some olive oil on it. 19He named the place “Bethel,”#28:19. “Bethel” means “house of God.” (previously it was called Luz). 20Jacob also made a solemn promise, saying, “God, if you will be with me, and take care of me on my journey, and give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21so I can return safely to my father's home, then you Lord will be my God. 22This stone pillar that I've set up will be the house of God,#28:22. In other words, a place of worship. and I will give you one tenth of all you give me.”
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com