Genesis 28
28
Jacob Sent to Laban
1Then Isaac called Jacob #ver. 6 and blessed him and directed him, #[See ch. 27:46 above]“You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. 2#Hos. 12:12 Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of #ch. 22:23Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 3#See ch. 17:1God Almighty#28:3 Hebrew El Shaddai bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. 4May he give #See ch. 12:2, 3 the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of #ch. 17:8; 36:7; 37:1the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” 5Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
Esau Marries an Ishmaelite
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 directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” 7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. 8So when Esau saw #ch. 24:3; 26:35that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, 9Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, #[ch. 36:3] Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of #ch. 25:13; 36:3Nebaioth.
Jacob’s Dream
10Jacob left #ch. 21:31; 26:33 Beersheba and went toward #[Acts 7:2]Haran. 11And he came to a certain place and stayed there that 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 to sleep. 12And he #[Num. 12:6; Job 33:15, 16] dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder#28:12 Or a flight of steps set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, #[John 1:51]the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13And behold, #[ch. 35:1; 48:3] the Lord stood above it#28:13 Or beside him and said, #ch. 26:24 “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. #ch. 35:12; See ch. 13:14-16The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14Your offspring shall be like #See ch. 13:16 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 in you and #See ch. 12:3your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15Behold, #ch. 26:24; 31:3 I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and #ch. 35:6 will bring you back to this land. For I will #1 Kgs. 8:57not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is #Ex. 3:5; Josh. 5:15in 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 early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up #ch. 31:13, 45; 35:14; [1 Sam. 7:12; 2 Sam. 18:18] for a pillar #[Lev. 8:10, 11; Num. 7:1]and poured oil on the top of it. 19He called the name of that place #ch. 35:7; Judg. 1:23, 26Bethel,#28:19 Bethel means the house of God but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20Then Jacob #ch. 31:13made 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, 21#[Judg. 11:31; 2 Sam. 15:7-9] so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, #Deut. 26:17then the Lord shall be my God, 22and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, #ch. 35:7, 14 shall be God’s house. And #ch. 14:20; Lev. 27:30-33of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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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.”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com