Genesis 28
28
1So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and said, “You must not marry any of these Canaanite women. 2Instead, go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of your uncle Laban’s daughters. 3May God Almighty#28:3 Hebrew El-Shaddai. bless you and give you many children. And may your descendants multiply and become many nations! 4May God pass on to you and your descendants#28:4 Hebrew seed; also in 28:13, 14. the blessings he promised to Abraham. May you own this land where you are now living as a foreigner, for God gave this land to Abraham.”
5So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to stay with his uncle Laban, his mother’s brother, the son of Bethuel the Aramean.
6Esau knew that his father, Isaac, had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to find a wife, and that he had warned Jacob, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman.” 7He also knew that Jacob had obeyed his parents and gone to Paddan-aram. 8It was now very clear to Esau that his father did not like the local Canaanite women. 9So Esau visited his uncle Ishmael’s family and married one of Ishmael’s daughters, in addition to the wives he already had. His new wife’s name was Mahalath. She was the sister of Nebaioth and the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. 11At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. 12As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.
13At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. 14Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. 15What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”
16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” 17But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”
18The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. 19He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although it was previously called Luz.
20Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, 21and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. 22And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”
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Genesis 28: NLT
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Genesis 28
28
1Then Isaac called Jacob and #Gen. 27:33blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: #Gen. 24:3“You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2#Hos. 12:12Arise, go to #Gen. 25:20Padan Aram, to the house of #Gen. 22:23Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of #Gen. 24:29; 27:43; 29:5Laban your mother’s brother.
3“May #Gen. 17:16; 35:11; 48:3God Almighty bless you,
And make you #Gen. 26:4, 24fruitful and multiply you,
That you may be an assembly of peoples;
4And give you #Gen. 12:2, 3; 22:17; Gal. 3:8the blessing of Abraham,
To you and your descendants with you,
That you may inherit the land
#Gen. 17:8; 23:4; 36:7; 1 Chr. 29:15; Ps. 39:12In which you are a stranger,
Which God gave to Abraham.”
5So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Esau Marries Mahalath
6Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” 7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram. 8Also Esau saw #Gen. 24:3; 26:34, 35; 27:46that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. 9So Esau went to Ishmael and #Gen. 26:34, 35took #Gen. 36:2, 3Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, #Gen. 25:13the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.
Jacob’s Vow at Bethel
10Now Jacob #Gen. 26:23; 46:1; Hos. 12:12went out from Beersheba and went toward #Gen. 12:4, 5; 27:43; 29:4; 2 Kin. 19:12; Acts 7:2Haran. 11So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12Then he #Gen. 31:10; 41:1; Num. 12:6dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there #John 1:51; Heb. 1:4, 14the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13#Gen. 35:1; 48:3; Amos 7:7And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: #Gen. 26:24“I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; #Gen. 13:15, 17; 26:3; 35:12the land on which you lie I will give to you and your #Gen. 13:16; 22:17descendants. 14Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad #Gen. 13:14, 15; Deut. 12:20to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and #Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; Matt. 1:2; Luke 3:34; Gal. 3:8in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15Behold, #Gen. 26:3, 24; 31:3I am with you and will #Gen. 48:16; Num. 6:24; Ps. 121:5, 7, 8keep you wherever you go, and will #Gen. 35:6; 48:21; Deut. 30:3bring you back to this land; for #Lev. 26:44; Deut. 7:9; 31:6, 8; Josh. 1:5; 1 Kin. 8:57; Heb. 13:5I will not leave you #Num. 23:19until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in #Ex. 3:5; Josh. 5:15; Ps. 139:7–12this 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!”
18Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, #Gen. 31:13, 45set it up as a pillar, #Lev. 8:10–12and poured oil on top of it. 19And he called the name of #Judg. 1:23, 26that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. 20#Gen. 31:13; Judg. 11:30; 2 Sam. 15:8Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If #Gen. 28:15God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me #1 Tim. 6:8bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21so that #Judg. 11:31; 2 Sam. 19:24, 30I come back to my father’s house in peace, #Deut. 26:17; 2 Sam. 15:8then the Lord shall be my God. 22And this stone which I have set as a pillar #Gen. 35:7, 14shall be God’s house, #Gen. 14:20; (Lev. 27:30); Deut. 14:22and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
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