Genesis 28
28
Isaac's Instructions to Jacob
1Isaac called in Jacob, then gave him a blessing, and said:
Don't marry any of those Canaanite women. 2Go at once to your mother's father Bethuel in northern Syria#28.2 northern Syria: See the note at 24.10. and choose a wife from one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. 3I pray that God All-Powerful will bless you with many descendants and let you become a great nation. 4#Gn 17.4-8. May he bless you with the land he promised Abraham, so that you will take over this land where we now live as foreigners.
5Isaac then sent Jacob to stay with Rebekah's brother Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean.
Esau Marries the Daughter of Ishmael
6Esau found out that his father Isaac had blessed Jacob and had warned him not to marry any of the Canaanite women. He also learned that Jacob had been sent to find a wife in northern Syria#28.6 northern Syria: See the note at 24.10. 7and that he had obeyed his father and mother. 8Esau already had several wives, but he now realized how much his father hated the Canaanite women. 9So he married Ishmael's daughter Mahalath, who was the sister of Nebaioth#28.9 Nebaioth: Ishmael's oldest son (see 25.13). and the granddaughter of Abraham.
Jacob's Dream at Bethel
10 #
Ws 10.10. Jacob left the town of Beersheba and started out for Haran. 11At sunset he stopped for the night and went to sleep, resting his head on a large rock. 12#Jn 1.51. In a dream he saw a ladder that reached from earth to heaven, and God's angels were going up and down on it.
13 #
Gn 13.14,15. The Lord was standing beside the ladder#28.13 the ladder: Or “Jacob” or “the stairway.” and said:
I am the Lord God who was worshiped by Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are now sleeping. 14#Gn 12.3; 22.18. Your descendants will spread over the earth in all directions and will become as numerous as the specks of dust. Your family will be a blessing to all people.#28.14 Your family … people: Or “All people will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your family.” 15Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will bring you back to this land. I won't leave you—I will do all I have promised.
16Jacob woke up suddenly and thought, “The Lord is in this place, and I didn't even know it.” 17Then Jacob became frightened and said, “What a frightening place! It must be the house of God and the gateway to heaven.”
18When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the rock that he had used for a pillow and stood it up as a place of worship. Then he poured olive oil on the rock to dedicate it to God, 19and he named the place Bethel.#28.19 Bethel: In Hebrew “Bethel” means “House of God.” Before that it had been named Luz.
20Jacob solemnly promised God, “If you go with me and watch over me as I travel, and if you give me food and clothes 21and bring me safely home again, you will be my God. 22This rock will be your house, and I will give back to you a tenth of everything you give me.”
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Genesis 28
28
1And Isaac calleth unto Jacob, and blesseth him, and commandeth him, and saith to him, ‘Thou dost not take a wife of the daughters of Caanan;
2rise, go to Padan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel, thy mother's father, and take for thyself from thence a wife, of the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother;
3and God Almighty doth bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and thou hast become an assembly of peoples;
4and He doth give to thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee and to thy seed with thee, to cause thee to possess the land of thy sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.’
5And Isaac sendeth away Jacob, and he goeth to Padan-Aram, unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramaean, brother of Rebekah, mother of Jacob and Esau.
6And Esau seeth that Isaac hath blessed Jacob, and hath sent him to Padan-Aram to take to himself from thence a wife — in his blessing him that he layeth a charge upon him, saying, Thou dost not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan —
7that Jacob hearkeneth unto his father and unto his mother, and goeth to Padan-Aram —
8and Esau seeth that the daughters of Canaan are evil in the eyes of Isaac his father,
9and Esau goeth unto Ishmael, and taketh Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, sister of Nebajoth, unto his wives, to himself, for a wife.
10And Jacob goeth out from Beer-Sheba, and goeth toward Haran,
11and he toucheth at a [certain] place, and lodgeth there, for the sun hath gone in, and he taketh of the stones of the place, and maketh [them] his pillows, and lieth down in that place.
12And he dreameth, and lo, a ladder set up on the earth, and its head is touching the heavens; and lo, messengers of God are going up and coming down by it;
13and lo, Jehovah is standing upon it, and He saith, ‘I [am] Jehovah, God of Abraham thy father, and God of Isaac; the land on which thou art lying, to thee I give it, and to thy seed;
14and thy seed hath been as the dust of the land, and thou hast broken forth westward, and eastward, and northward, and southward, and all families of the ground have been blessed in thee and in thy seed.
15‘And lo, I [am] with thee, and have kept thee whithersoever thou goest, and have caused thee to turn back unto this ground; for I leave thee not till that I have surely done that which I have spoken to thee.’
16And Jacob awaketh out of his sleep, and saith, ‘Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I knew not;’
17and he feareth, and saith, ‘How fearful [is] this place; this is nothing but a house of God, and this a gate of the heavens.’
18And Jacob riseth early in the morning, and taketh the stone which he hath made his pillows, and maketh it a standing pillar, and poureth oil upon its top,
19and he calleth the name of that place Bethel, [house of God,] and yet, Luz [is] the name of the city at the first.
20And Jacob voweth a vow, saying, ‘Seeing God is with me, and hath kept me in this way which I am going, and hath given to me bread to eat, and a garment to put on —
21when I have turned back in peace unto the house of my father, and Jehovah hath become my God,
22then this stone which I have made a standing pillar is a house of God, and all that Thou dost give to me — tithing I tithe to Thee.’
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