Genesis 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.”

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Genesis 28

CHAPTER 28

1And so Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and commanded to him, and said, Do not thou take a wife of the kin of Canaan;

2but go thou, and walk forth into Mesopotamia of Syria, to the house of Bethuel, [the] father of thy mother, and take to thee from thence a wife of the daughters of Laban, thine uncle.

3Soothly Almighty God bless thee, and make thee to increase, and multiply thee, that thou be into companies of peoples;

4and God give to thee the blessing of Abraham, and to thy seed after thee, that thou wield the land of thy pilgrimage, which he promised to thy grand-sire.

5And when Isaac had let go Jacob, he went forth, and came into Mesopotamia of Syria, to Laban, the son of Bethuel of Syria, the brother of Rebecca, his mother.

6Forsooth Esau saw that his father had blessed Jacob, and had sent him into Mesopotamia of Syria, that he should wed a wife of thence, and that after the blessing he commanded to Jacob, and said, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;

7and that Jacob obeyed to his father and mother, and went into Syria;

8also Esau proved thereby that his father beheld not gladly the daughters of Canaan.

9And Esau went to Ishmael, and wedded a wife, without these which he had before, Mahalath#28:9 Mahalath is also called Bashemath, but she is a different person than Esau’s 2nd wife, who was also called Bashemath(!)., the daughter of Ishmael, son of Abraham, the sister of Nebajoth.

10Therefore Jacob went out of Beersheba, and went to Haran.

11And when he had come to some place, and would rest therein after the going down of the sun, he took of the stones that lay there, and he put under his head, and slept in the same place.

12And he saw in [his] sleep a ladder standing on the earth, and the top thereof touching heaven; and he saw God’s angels ascending or going up and going down thereby,

13and the Lord nighed to the ladder, saying to him, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and God of Isaac; I shall give to thee and to thy seed the land in which thou sleepest.

14And thy seed shall be as the dust of [the] earth, thou shalt be alarged to the east, and west, and to the north, and south; and all the lineages of [the] earth shall be blessed in thee and in thy seed.

15And I shall be thy keeper, whither ever thou shalt go; and I shall lead thee again into this land, and I shall not leave thee, no but I shall fulfill all [the] things which I have said.

16And when Jacob had waked of [the] sleep, he said, Verily the Lord is in this place, and I knew not.

17And he said dreading, How fearedful, or worshipful, is this place! Here is none other thing, no but the house of God, and the gate of heaven.

18Therefore Jacob rose early, and took the stone which he had put under his head, and raised it up into a title, or sign, and poured out oil above.

19And he called the name of that city Bethel, which was called Luz before.

20Also Jacob avowed a vow, and said, If God is with me, and keepeth me in the way in which I go, and giveth to me loaves to eat, and clothes to be clothed with,

21and I turn again in prosperity to the house of my father, the Lord shall be into God to me.

22And this stone, which I raised into a title, shall be called the house of God; and I shall offer tithes to thee of all things which thou shalt give to me.

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