Genesis 28
28
CHAPTER 28
1And so Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and commanded to him, and said, Do not thou take a wife of the kin of Canaan;
2but go thou, and walk forth into Mesopotamia of Syria, to the house of Bethuel, [the] father of thy mother, and take to thee from thence a wife of the daughters of Laban, thine uncle.
3Soothly Almighty God bless thee, and make thee to increase, and multiply thee, that thou be into companies of peoples;
4and God give to thee the blessing of Abraham, and to thy seed after thee, that thou wield the land of thy pilgrimage, which he promised to thy grand-sire.
5And when Isaac had let go Jacob, he went forth, and came into Mesopotamia of Syria, to Laban, the son of Bethuel of Syria, the brother of Rebecca, his mother.
6Forsooth Esau saw that his father had blessed Jacob, and had sent him into Mesopotamia of Syria, that he should wed a wife of thence, and that after the blessing he commanded to Jacob, and said, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;
7and that Jacob obeyed to his father and mother, and went into Syria;
8also Esau proved thereby that his father beheld not gladly the daughters of Canaan.
9And Esau went to Ishmael, and wedded a wife, without these which he had before, Mahalath#28:9 Mahalath is also called Bashemath, but she is a different person than Esau’s 2nd wife, who was also called Bashemath(!)., the daughter of Ishmael, son of Abraham, the sister of Nebajoth.
10Therefore Jacob went out of Beersheba, and went to Haran.
11And when he had come to some place, and would rest therein after the going down of the sun, he took of the stones that lay there, and he put under his head, and slept in the same place.
12And he saw in [his] sleep a ladder standing on the earth, and the top thereof touching heaven; and he saw God’s angels ascending or going up and going down thereby,
13and the Lord nighed to the ladder, saying to him, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and God of Isaac; I shall give to thee and to thy seed the land in which thou sleepest.
14And thy seed shall be as the dust of [the] earth, thou shalt be alarged to the east, and west, and to the north, and south; and all the lineages of [the] earth shall be blessed in thee and in thy seed.
15And I shall be thy keeper, whither ever thou shalt go; and I shall lead thee again into this land, and I shall not leave thee, no but I shall fulfill all [the] things which I have said.
16And when Jacob had waked of [the] sleep, he said, Verily the Lord is in this place, and I knew not.
17And he said dreading, How fearedful, or worshipful, is this place! Here is none other thing, no but the house of God, and the gate of heaven.
18Therefore Jacob rose early, and took the stone which he had put under his head, and raised it up into a title, or sign, and poured out oil above.
19And he called the name of that city Bethel, which was called Luz before.
20Also Jacob avowed a vow, and said, If God is with me, and keepeth me in the way in which I go, and giveth to me loaves to eat, and clothes to be clothed with,
21and I turn again in prosperity to the house of my father, the Lord shall be into God to me.
22And this stone, which I raised into a title, shall be called the house of God; and I shall offer tithes to thee of all things which thou shalt give to me.
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Genesis 28: WBMS
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Wycliffe’s Bible with Modern Spelling ©2017
Wycliffe’s Apocrypha ©2013, 2015
Wycliffe’s Bible © 2012, 2015
Wycliffe’s New Testament ©2001, 2011
Wycliffe’s Old Testament ©2001, 2010
Genesis 28
28
1 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman!#tn Heb “you must not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.” 2 Leave immediately#tn Heb “Arise! Go!” The first of the two imperatives is adverbial and stresses the immediacy of the departure. for Paddan Aram! Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and find yourself a wife there, among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3 May the sovereign God#tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1. bless you! May he make you fruitful and give you a multitude of descendants!#tn Heb “and make you fruitful and multiply you.” See Gen 17:6, 20 for similar terminology. Then you will become#tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here indicates consequence. The collocation הָיָה + preposition לְ (hayah + lÿ) means “become.” a large nation.#tn Heb “an assembly of peoples.” 4 May he give you and your descendants the blessing he gave to Abraham#tn Heb “and may he give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you.” The name “Abraham” is an objective genitive here; this refers to the blessing that God gave to Abraham. so that you may possess the land#tn The words “the land” have been supplied in the translation for clarity. God gave to Abraham, the land where you have been living as a temporary resident.”#tn Heb “the land of your sojournings,” that is, the land where Jacob had been living as a resident alien, as his future descendants would after him. 5 So Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him off to Paddan Aram to find a wife there.#tn Heb “to take for himself from there a wife.” As he blessed him,#tn The infinitive construct with the preposition and the suffix form a temporal clause. Isaac commanded him, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman.”#tn Heb “you must not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.” 7 Jacob obeyed his father and mother and left for Paddan Aram. 8 Then Esau realized#tn Heb “saw.” that the Canaanite women#tn Heb “the daughters of Canaan.” were displeasing to#tn Heb “evil in the eyes of.” his father Isaac. 9 So Esau went to Ishmael and married#tn Heb “took for a wife.” Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, along with the wives he already had.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10 Meanwhile Jacob left Beer Sheba and set out for Haran. 11 He reached a certain place#tn Heb “the place.” The article may indicate simply that the place is definite in the mind of the narrator. However, as the story unfolds the place is transformed into a holy place. See A. P. Ross, “Jacob’s Vision: The Founding of Bethel,” BSac 142 (1985): 224-37. where he decided to camp because the sun had gone down.#tn Heb “and he spent the night there because the sun had gone down.” He took one of the stones#tn Heb “he took from the stones of the place,” which here means Jacob took one of the stones (see v. 18). and placed it near his head.#tn Heb “and he put [it at] the place of his head.” The text does not actually say the stone was placed under his head to serve as a pillow, although most interpreters and translators assume this. It is possible the stone served some other purpose. Jacob does not seem to have been a committed monotheist yet (see v. 20-21) so he may have believed it contained some spiritual power. Note that later in the story he anticipates the stone becoming the residence of God (see v. 22). Many cultures throughout the world view certain types of stones as magical and/or sacred. See J. G. Fraser, Folklore in the Old Testament, 231-37. Then he fell asleep#tn Heb “lay down.” in that place 12 and had a dream.#tn Heb “and dreamed.” He saw#tn Heb “and look.” The scene which Jacob witnessed is described in three clauses introduced with הִנֵּה (hinneh). In this way the narrator invites the reader to witness the scene through Jacob’s eyes. J. P. Fokkelman points out that the particle goes with a lifted arm and an open mouth: “There, a ladder! Oh, angels! and look, the Lord himself” (Narrative Art in Genesis [SSN], 51-52). a stairway#tn The Hebrew noun סֻלָּם (sullam, “ladder, stairway”) occurs only here in the OT, but there appears to be an Akkadian cognate simmiltu (with metathesis of the second and third consonants and a feminine ending) which has a specialized meaning of “stairway, ramp.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 34. For further discussion see C. Houtman, “What Did Jacob See in His Dream at Bethel? Some Remarks on Genesis 28:10-22,” VT 27 (1977): 337-52; J. G. Griffiths, “The Celestial Ladder and the Gate of Heaven,” ExpTim 76 (1964/65): 229-30; and A. R. Millard, “The Celestial Ladder and the Gate of Heaven,” ExpTim 78 (1966/67): 86-87. erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it 13 and the Lord stood at its top. He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac.#tn Heb “the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.” The Hebrew word for “father” can typically be used in a broader sense than the English word, in this case referring to Abraham (who was Jacob’s grandfather). For stylistic reasons and for clarity, the words “your father” are supplied with “Isaac” in the translation. I will give you and your descendants the ground#tn The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’erets) can mean “[the] earth,” “land,” “region,” “piece of ground,” or “ground” depending on the context. Here the term specifically refers to the plot of ground on which Jacob was lying, but at the same time this stands by metonymy for the entire land of Canaan. you are lying on. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth,#tn This is the same Hebrew word translated “ground” in the preceding verse. and you will spread out#tn The verb is singular in the Hebrew; Jacob is addressed as the representative of his descendants. to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another#tn Theoretically the Niphal stem can be translated either as passive or reflexive/reciprocal. (The Niphal of “bless” is only used in formulations of the Abrahamic covenant. See Gen 12:2; 18:18; 28:14.) Traditionally the verb is taken as passive here, as if Jacob were going to be a channel or source of blessing. But in other formulations of the Abrahamic covenant (see Gen 22:18; 26:4) the Hitpael replaces this Niphal form, suggesting a translation “will bless (i.e., pronounce blessings upon) themselves/one another.” The Hitpael of “bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 28:14 predicts that Jacob will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae (see Gen 12:2 and 18:18 as well, where Abram/Abraham receives this promise). For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11. using your name and that of your descendants.#tn Heb “and they will pronounce blessings by you, all the families of the earth, and by your offspring.” 15 I am with you!#tn Heb “Look, I [am] with you.” The clause is a nominal clause; the verb to be supplied could be present (as in the translation) or future, “Look, I [will be] with you” (cf. NEB). I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you!”
16 Then Jacob woke up#tn Heb “woke up from his sleep.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons. and thought,#tn Heb “said.” “Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not realize it!” 17 He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is nothing else than the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!”
18 Early#tn Heb “and he got up early…and he took.” in the morning Jacob#tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity. took the stone he had placed near his head#tn See the note on this phrase in v. 11. and set it up as a sacred stone.#tn Heb “standing stone.”sn Sacred stone. Such a stone could be used as a boundary marker, a burial stone, or as a shrine. Here the stone is intended to be a reminder of the stairway that was “erected” and on which the Lord “stood.” (In Hebrew the word translated “sacred stone” is derived from the verb translated “erected” in v. 12 and “stood” in v. 13. Since the top of the stairway reached the heavens where the Lord stood, Jacob poured oil on the top of the stone. See C. F. Graesser, “Standing Stones in Ancient Palestine,” BA 35 (1972): 34-63; and E. Stockton, “Sacred Pillars in the Bible,” ABR 20 (1972): 16-32. Then he poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel,#tn The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew (see v. 17).map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3. although the former name of the town was Luz. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food#tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general. to eat and clothing to wear, 21 and I return safely to my father’s home,#tn Heb “and I return in peace to the house of my father.” then the Lord will become my God. 22 Then this stone#tn The disjunctive clause structure (conjunction + noun/subject) is used to highlight the statement. that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely#tn The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb for emphasis. give you back a tenth of everything you give me.”#tn Heb “and all which you give to me I will surely give a tenth of it to you.” The disjunctive clause structure (conjunction + noun/object) highlights this statement as well.
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