Genesis 28

1Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women. 2Go at once to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father; and take as wife from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. 3May God Almighty#28.3 Traditional rendering of Heb El Shaddai bless you and make you fruitful and numerous, that you may become a company of peoples. 4May he give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien—land that God gave to Abraham.” 5Thus Isaac sent Jacob away; and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

Esau Marries Ishmael's Daughter

6Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he charged him, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women,” 7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. 8So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please his father Isaac, 9Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael, and sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

Jacob's Dream at Bethel

10Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12And he dreamed that there was a ladder#28.12 Or stairway or ramp set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13And the Lord stood beside him#28.13 Or stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; 14and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed#28.14 Or shall bless themselves in you and in your offspring. 15Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord 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 God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

18So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19He called that place Bethel;#28.19 That is House of God but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one tenth to you.”

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Genesis 28: NRSV-CI

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Genesis 28

Jacob left home

1Isaac sent somebody to get Jacob, and Jacob came to Isaac’s room. Then Isaac talked strongly to Jacob. Isaac said, “My son, don’t marry any women that live here in Canaan country. 2I want you to marry somebody from our family. So leave this place straight away, and go to Paddan Aram country. Your mother’s father Bethuel, he lives in that place. And your mother’s brother Laban, he lives there too. I want you to pick one of Laban’s daughters and marry her.”

3Then Isaac said, “God has power over everything. So I’m asking God to be good to you. I’m asking him to give you lots of kids and grand-kids, so that your family will grow into lots of different tribes. 4And I’m asking him to give all this country to you and the people that will be born into your family later on. Right now, this country doesn’t belong to you. You are just camping here. But one day, your family will take this country for themselves, just like God promised to your grand-father Abraham.”#Genesis 17:4-8

5Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and Jacob left to go to his uncle Laban in Paddan Aram country. Laban was the brother of Rebekah, she was Jacob and Esau’s mother. Laban and Rebekah’s father was Bethuel, and he was from the Aram tribe.

Esau married another woman

6Esau found out that Isaac asked God to be good to Jacob, and that Isaac said to Jacob, “Don’t marry any of the women that live here in Canaan country.” And he found out that Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan Aram country, to find a wife there. 7And Esau knew that Jacob left to go to Paddan Aram country, just like his father and mother told Jacob to. 8Then Esau knew that his father Isaac didn’t like the women from Canaan country. 9Esau already had 2 wives, and they were both from Canaan country. So he thought, “I have to marry a woman from our own family, so that my father will be happy with me again.”

So Esau went to the place where his uncle Ishmael lived. Ishmael was Abraham’s son. And Esau married Ishmael’s daughter Mahalath. Her oldest brother was called Nebayoth.

Then Esau had 3 wives.

Jacob saw God in a dream

10This is the story about what happened to Jacob next, after his father Isaac sent him away to find a wife.

Jacob left his home in Beersheba, and he started to go towards the town called Haran, in Paddan Aram country. 11He kept on walking until the sun started to go down. Then he stopped for the night. There were lots of stones in that place, and Jacob got one of those stones, and he put it on the ground at his head. Then he lay down and went to sleep.

12While Jacob was asleep, he had a dream. In that dream, he saw lots of steps going up from the earth, and those steps went all the way up into the sky. And Jacob saw lots of God’s angel messengers on those steps. Some of those angel messengers were going up the steps towards the sky, and some of them were going down the steps towards the earth.#John 1:51 13Then Jacob saw God standing near him. And God talked to Jacob. He said, “I am God, my name is Yahweh. I am the one that looked after your grand-father Abraham and your father Isaac. I’m making you a promise about this country where you are sleeping right now. I will give all this country to you and to the people that will be born into your family later on.#Genesis 13:14-15 14Lots of people will be born into your family, and they will become a really big mob of people. There will be lots and lots of them, just like there are lots of little bits of dirt on the ground. And those people in your family, they will spread out a long way, and they will live in lots of different places. Some of them will go west, some of them will go east, some of them will go north, and some of them will go south. And I will use your family to do good things for all the families in the world.#Genesis 12:3; 22:18 15You can be sure that I will be with you wherever you go. I will look after you and I will keep you safe. Right now, you are going to another country. But one day, I will bring you back to this country again. Yes, I will stay with you, and I will keep all these promises that I’m making to you.”

16Then Jacob woke up, and he said, “Now I know that God is in this place. I didn’t know that before, but now I do.” 17So Jacob got frightened. He said, “This place frightens me. I know for sure that God lives here. This place joins up with heaven.”

18Early the next morning, Jacob picked up the stone that was at his head, and he stood it up and poured olive oil on top of it. Jacob did those things to show that God was in that place, and that place was special. 19And Jacob named that place Bethel. That name means God’s house. At that time, the town nearby was called Luz. But later, people called that town Bethel.

20-22Jacob prayed to God. He said, “God, you know that I’m walking a long way to Haran. Please stay with me and look after me while I’m away. Please give me food to eat and clothes to wear. And please keep me safe, so that one day I can go back home to my family.”

Then Jacob made promises to God. He said, “God, if you will do all those things that I asked, then I will respect you properly, and you Yahweh will be my God. And this special stone that I put here, it will show people that you are here in this place, and people can come here to show you respect. And I promise that whenever you give me good things, I will always split them up into 10 parts and give one part back to you.”

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