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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Genesis 28
28
1So Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and gave him these orders: “Don’t marry a Canaanite woman. 2Get up and go to Paddan-aram, to the household of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and once there, marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3God Almighty#28.3 Heb El Shaddai or God of the Mountain will bless you, make you fertile, and give you many descendants so that you will become a large group of peoples. 4He will give you and your descendants Abraham’s blessing so that you will own the land in which you are now immigrants, the land God gave to Abraham.” 5So Isaac sent Jacob off, and he traveled to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean and brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau’s mother.
6Esau understood that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to marry a woman from there. He recognized that, when Isaac blessed Jacob, he had ordered him, “Don’t marry a Canaanite woman,” 7and that Jacob had listened to his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram. 8Esau realized that his father Isaac considered Canaanite women unacceptable. 9So he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth, in addition to his other wives.
Jacob’s dream at Bethel
10Jacob left Beer-sheba and set out for Haran. 11He reached a certain place and spent the night there. When the sun had set, he took one of the stones at that place and put it near his head. Then he lay down there. 12He dreamed and saw a raised staircase, its foundation on earth and its top touching the sky, and God’s messengers were ascending and descending on it. 13Suddenly the LORD was standing on it#28.13 Or beside it or beside him and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14Your descendants will become like the dust of the earth; you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. Every family of earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants. 15I am with you now, I will protect you everywhere you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done everything that I have promised you.”
16When Jacob woke from his sleep, he thought to himself, The LORD is definitely in this place, but I didn’t know it. 17He was terrified and thought, This sacred place is awesome. It’s none other than God’s house and the entrance to heaven. 18After Jacob got up early in the morning, he took the stone that he had put near his head, set it up as a sacred pillar, and poured oil on the top of it. 19He named that sacred place Bethel,#28.19 Or God’s house though Luz was the city’s original name. 20Jacob made a solemn promise: “If God is with me and protects me on this trip I’m taking, and gives me bread to eat and clothes to wear, 21and I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God. 22This stone that I’ve set up as a sacred pillar will be God’s house, and of everything you give me I will give a tenth back to you.”
2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.