1Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman. 2Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, in Northwest Mesopotamia. Laban, your mother’s brother, lives there. Marry one of his daughters. 3May God Almighty bless you and give you many children, and may you become a group of many peoples. 4May he give you and your descendants the blessing of Abraham so that you may own the land where you are now living as a stranger, the land God gave to Abraham.” 5So Isaac sent Jacob to Northwest Mesopotamia, to Laban the brother of Rebekah. Bethuel the Aramean was the father of Laban and Rebekah, and Rebekah was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

6Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Northwest Mesopotamia to find a wife there. He also learned that Isaac had commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman 7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Northwest Mesopotamia. 8So Esau saw that his father Isaac did not want his sons to marry Canaanite women. 9Now Esau already had wives, but he went to Ishmael son of Abraham, and he married Mahalath, Ishmael’s daughter. Mahalath was the sister of Nebaioth.

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

10Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. 11When he came to a place, he spent the night there because the sun had set. He found a stone and laid his head on it to go to sleep. 12Jacob dreamed that there was a ladder resting on the earth and reaching up into heaven, and he saw angels of God going up and coming down the ladder. 13Then Jacob saw the Lord standing above the ladder, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your grandfather, and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are now sleeping. 14Your descendants will be as many as the dust of the earth. They will spread west and east, north and south, and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. 15I am with you and will protect you everywhere you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

16Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not know it.” 17He was afraid and said, “This place frightens me! It is surely the house of God and the gate of heaven.”

18Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone he had slept on and set it up on its end. Then he poured olive oil on the top of it. 19At first, the name of that city was Luz, but Jacob named it Bethel.

20Then Jacob made a promise. He said, “I want God to be with me and to protect me on this journey. I want him to give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21so I will be able to return in peace to my father’s house. If the Lord does these things, he will be my God. 22This stone which I have set up on its end will be the house of God. And I will give God one-tenth of all he gives me.”

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Genesis 28

1And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, saying: Take not a wife of the stock of Chanaan:

2But go, and take a journey to Mesopotamia of Syria, to the house of Bathuel, thy mother's father: and take thee a wife thence of the daughters of Laban thy uncle.

3And God almighty bless thee, and make thee to increase, and multiply thee: that thou mayst be a multitude of people.

4And give the blessings of Abraham to thee, and to thy seed after thee: that thou mayst possess the land of thy sojournment, which he promised to thy grandfather.

5And when Isaac had sent him away, he took his journey and went to Mesopotamia of Syria to Laban the son of Bathuel the Syrian, brother to Rebecca his mother.

6And Esau, seeing that his father had blessed Jacob, and had sent him into Mesopotamia of Syria, to marry a wife thence; and that after the blessing he had charged him, saying: Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Chanaan:

7And that Jacob obeying his parents was gone into Syria:

8Experiencing also that his father was not well pleased with the daughters of Chanaan:

9He went to Ismael, and took to wife, besides them he had before, Maheleth the daughter of Ismael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nabajoth.

10But Jacob, being departed from Bersabee, went on to Haran.

11And when he was come to a certain place, and would rest in it after sunset, he took of the stones that lay there, and putting under his head, slept in the same place.

12And he saw in his sleep a ladder standing upon the earth, and the top thereof touching heaven; the angels also of God ascending and descending by it;

13And the Lord, leaning upon the ladder, saying to him: I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac. The land, wherein thou sleepest, I will give to thee and to thy seed.

14And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth: Thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: AND IN THEE AND THY SEED ALL THE TRIBES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.

15And I will be thy keeper whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee back into this land: neither will I leave thee, till I shall have accomplished all that I have said.

16And when Jacob awaked out of sleep, he said: Indeed the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.

17And trembling he said: How terrible is this place! This is no other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven.

18And Jacob, arising in the morning, took the stone, which he had laid under his head, and set it up for a title, pouring oil upon the top of it.

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

20And he made a vow, saying: If God shall be with me, and shall keep me in the way by which I walk, and shall give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,

21And I shall return prosperously to my father's house: the Lord shall be my God:

22And this stone, which I have set up for a title, shall called the house of God: and of all things that thou shalt give to me, I will offer tithes to thee.

An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

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Genesis 28

Genesis 28