Genesis 28
28
1Isaac called Jacob and blessed him. Then Isaac gave him a command and said, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman. 2So leave this place and go to Paddan Aram. Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Laban, your mother’s brother, lives there. Marry one of his daughters. 3I pray that God All-Powerful#28:3 God All-Powerful Literally, “El Shaddai.” will bless you and give you many children. I pray that you will become the father of a great nation 4and that God will bless you and your children the same way he blessed Abraham. And I pray that you will own the land where you live. This is the land God gave to Abraham.”
5So Isaac sent Jacob to Rebekah’s brother in Paddan Aram. Jacob went to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean. Laban was the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6Esau learned that his father Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram to find a wife there. He also learned that Isaac commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman. 7Esau learned that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and went to Paddan Aram. 8Esau saw from this that his father did not want his sons to marry Canaanite women. 9Esau already had two wives, but he went to Abraham’s son Ishmael and married another woman, Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. Mahalath was Nebaioth’s sister.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10Jacob left Beersheba and went to Haran. 11The sun had already set when he came to a good place to spend the night. He took a rock there and laid his head on it to sleep. 12Jacob had a dream. He dreamed there was a ladder that was on the ground and reached up into heaven. He saw the angels of God going up and down the ladder. 13And then Jacob saw the Lord standing by the ladder. He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. I will give you the land that you are lying on now. I will give this land to you and to your children. 14You will have as many descendants as there are particles of dust on the earth. They will spread east and west, north and south. All the families on earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants.
15“I am with you, and I will protect you everywhere you go. I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised.”
16Then Jacob woke up and said, “I know that the Lord is in this place, but I did not know he was here until I slept.”
17Jacob was afraid and said, “This is a very great place. This is the house of God. This is the gate to heaven.”
18Jacob got up very early in the morning. He took the rock he had slept on and set it up on its edge. Then he poured oil on the rock. In this way he made it a memorial to God. 19The name of that place was Luz, but Jacob named it Bethel.#28:19 Bethel A town in Israel. This name means “God’s house.”
20Then Jacob made a promise. He said, “If God will be with me, and if he will protect me on this trip, and if he gives me food to eat and clothes to wear, 21and if I return in peace to my father’s house—if he does all these things—then the Lord will be my God. 22I am setting this stone up as a memorial stone. It will show that this is a holy place for God, and I will give God one-tenth of all he gives me.”
© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Genesis 28
28
Jacob’s Departure
1Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him: “Don’t take a wife from the Canaanite women. 2Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you # Gn 1:28 so that you become an assembly of peoples. # Gn 48:4 4May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham # Gn 12:1-3 so that you may possess the land where you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.” # Gn 12:7; 15:18 5So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to get a wife there. When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman.” 7And Jacob listened to his father and mother and went to Paddan-aram. 8Esau realized that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women, # Gn 24:3; 26:34-35; 27:46 9so Esau went to Ishmael and married, in addition to his other wives, Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. She was the sister of Nebaioth.
Jacob at Bethel
10Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place. 12And he dreamed: # Gn 41:1; Nm 12:6; Jb 33:15-16 A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down on it. # Jn 1:51 13Yahweh was standing there beside him,# Or there above it saying, “I am Yahweh, # Gn 15:7; Ex 6:8 the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on. 14Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, # Gn 13:16 and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. # Gn 12:3 15Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, # Gn 48:21; Dt 30:3; 1Kg 8:34; Zph 3:20 for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” # Ex 3:4-6; Jos 5:13-15; Ps 139:7-12 17He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”
18Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it 19and named the place Bethel, # = House of God though previously the city was named Luz. # Gn 35:6; 48:3; Jdg 1:23,26 20Then Jacob made a vow: # Gn 31:13 “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, if He provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear, 21and if I return safely to my father’s house, # Gn 33:18; Jdg 11:31; 2Sm 15:7-9 then the Lord will be my God. # Dt 26:17 22This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to You a tenth of all that You give me.” # Gn 14:20; Lv 27:30; Dt 14:22
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