Genesis 28
28
1#A glimpse of Rebekah’s shrewdness is provided by 27:42–28:2. She is aware of Esau’s murderous plot against Jacob (27:42–45) but realizes the episode of the stolen blessing is still painful to Isaac; she therefore uses another motive to persuade Isaac to send Jacob away—he must marry within the family (endogamy), unlike Esau. Esau, unreflective as usual, realizes too late he also should marry within the family but, significantly, marries from Abraham’s rejected line. At this point in the story, Jacob (and his mother) have taken the blessing for themselves. Their actions have put Jacob in a precarious position: he must flee the land because of his brother’s murderous intent and find a wife in a far country. One might ask how God’s blessing can be given to such an unworthy schemer. There is a biblical pattern of preferring the younger brother or sister over the older—Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Rachel over Leah, Joseph over his older brothers, Ephraim over Manasseh (Gn 48:14), David over his older brothers. Isaac therefore summoned Jacob and blessed him, charging him: “You shall not marry a Canaanite woman!#Gn 24:3–4; 26:35. 2Go now to Paddan-aram, to the home of your mother’s father Bethuel, and there choose a wife for yourself from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.#Gn 22:22. 3May God Almighty bless you and make you fertile, multiply you that you may become an assembly of peoples. 4May God extend to you and your descendants the blessing of Abraham, so that you may gain possession of the land where you are residing, which he assigned to Abraham.”#Ex 32:13. 5Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way; he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.#Jdt 8:26.
6Esau noted that Isaac had blessed Jacob when he sent him to Paddan-aram to get himself a wife there, and that, as he gave him his blessing, he charged him, “You shall not marry a Canaanite woman,” 7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram. 8Esau realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac, 9so Esau went to Ishmael, and in addition to the wives he had, married Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.#Gn 36:2–3.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel.#As Jacob is leaving the land on his way to an uncertain future in Paddan-aram, God appears to him at a sacred place that Jacob had visited only to take a night’s rest. Jacob’s unawareness of the holiness of the place underscores the graciousness of the gift. On his return to Canaan, he will again encounter a divine visitor in the form of the mysterious attacker (32:23–33) and, after his return and reconciliation with Esau, he will again go to Bethel (35:1–15). 10Jacob departed from Beer-sheba and proceeded toward Haran. 11When he came upon a certain place,#Place: the Hebrew word is often used specifically of a sacred site. The ambiguous word “place” is used here, for the text emphasizes that Jacob has no idea the place he has come upon is sacred; only when he wakes up does he realize it is sacred. The place was Bethel (v. 19), a sacred site as early as the time of Abraham (12:8). he stopped there for the night, since the sun had already set. Taking one of the stones at the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12Then he had a dream: a stairway#Stairway: in Hebrew, sullam, traditionally but inaccurately translated as “ladder.” The corresponding verb, salal, means “to heap up” something, such as dirt for a highway or a ramp. The imagery in Jacob’s dream may be derived from the Babylonian ziggurat or temple tower, “with its top in the sky” (11:4), and with brick steps leading up to a small temple at the top. rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God’s angels were going up and down on it.#Jn 1:51. 13And there was the Lord standing beside him and saying: I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are lying I will give to you and your descendants.#Dt 1:8; Mi 7:20. 14Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and through them you will spread to the west and the east, to the north and the south. In you and your descendants all the families of the earth will find blessing.#Gn 12:3; 13:14–15; 15:5–6; 18:18; 22:17–18; 26:4; Dt 19:8; Sir 44:21. 15I am with you and will protect you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you.#Gn 31:3.
16When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Truly, the Lord is in this place and I did not know it!” 17He was afraid and said: “How awesome this place is! This is nothing else but the house of God, the gateway to heaven!” 18Early the next morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a sacred pillar,#Sacred pillar: in Hebrew, masseba, a stone which might vary in shape and size, set upright and usually intended for some religious purpose. The custom of erecting such sacred pillars in Palestine went back to its pre-Israelite period; but since their polytheistic associations were often retained, later Israelite religion forbade their erection (Lv 26:1; Dt 16:22) and ordered the destruction of those that were associated with other religions (Ex 34:13; Dt 12:3). and poured oil on top of it.#Gn 31:13; 35:14–15. 19He named that place Bethel,#Bethel: i.e., “house of God”; the reference is to the house of God in v. 17. whereas the former name of the town had been Luz.#Gn 35:6; 48:3; Jos 18:13; Jgs 1:23; Hos 12:5.
20Jacob then made this vow:#This vow: knowing well that Esau’s murderous wrath stands between him and the possession of the land promised him, Jacob makes his vow very precise. He vows to make the God who appeared to him his own if the God guides him safely to Paddan-aram and back to this land. “If God will be with me and protect me on this journey I am making and give me food to eat and clothes to wear, 21and I come back safely to my father’s house, the Lord will be my God. 22This stone that I have set up as a sacred pillar will be the house of God. Of everything you give me, I will return a tenth part to you without fail.”
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Genesis 28: NABRE
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Genesis 28
28
1And Yitz’chak [Laughter] called Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of), and Blessed (Favored by God; happy; prosperous) him, and charged him, and said unto him, Youi shall not take a wife of the daughters of Kena’an (merchant; trader; or that humbles and subdues).
2Arise, go to Paddan-aram (a place of height; field; plain), to the house of B’tu’el (meaning disputed) youri mother’s father; and take youi a wife from there of the daughters of Lavan (to be white; white guy) youri mother’s brother.
3And God-El [The Powerful Living Word] Almighty-Shaddai bless youi, and make youi fruitful, and multiply youi, that youi may be a multitude of people;
4And give youi the blessing of Avraham [exalted father/Fly They Will], to youi, and to youri seed with youi; that youi may inherit the land wherein youi are a stranger, which God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered] gave unto Avraham [exalted father/Fly They Will].
5And Yitz’chak [Laughter] sent away Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of): and he went to Paddan-aram (a place of height; field; plain) unto Lavan (to be white; white guy), son of B’tu’el the Arami [Arami [exalted]] (level plain), the brother of Rivkah (Tied Up; Secured), Ya’akov’s and ‘Esav’s mother.
6When ‘Esav (hairy) saw that Yitz’chak [Laughter] had Blessed (Favored by God; happy; prosperous) Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of), and sent him away to Paddan-aram (a place of height; field; plain), to take him a wife from there; and that as he Blessed (Favored by God; happy; prosperous) him he gave him a charge, saying, Youi shall not take a wife of the daughters of Kena’an (merchant; trader; or that humbles and subdues);
7And that Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan-aram (a place of height; field; plain);
8And ‘Esav (hairy) seeing that the daughters of Kena’an (merchant; trader; or that humbles and subdues) pleased not Yitz’chak [Laughter] his father;
9Then went ‘Esav (hairy) unto Yishma’el (He Will Hear God; God hears [EL]), and took unto the wives which he had Machalat (sad song; sickness) the daughter of Yishma’el (He Will Hear God; God hears [EL]) Avraham’s [exalted father/Fly They Will] son, the sister of N’vayot (heights; vision), to be his wife.
10And Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) went out from Be’er-Sheva (well of the sevenfold oath), and went toward Haran [mountaineer] (Mountaineer or Mountainous).
11And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put [them for] his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
12And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered] ascending and descending on it.
13And, behold, the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) stood above it, and said, I [am] the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered] of Avraham [exalted father/Fly They Will] youri father, and the God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered] of Yitz’chak [Laughter]: the land upon which youi lie, to youi will I give it, and to youri seed;
14And youri seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and youi shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in youi and in youyi seed shall all the families of the earth be Blessed (Favored by God; happy; prosperous).
15And, behold, I [am] with youi, and will keep youi in all [places] to where youi go, and will bring youi again into this land; for I will not leave youi, until I have done [that] which I have spoken to youi of.
16And Ya’akov awakened out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) is in this place; and I knew [it] not.
17And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful [is] this place! this [is] none other but the house of God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered], and this [is] the gate of heaven.
18And Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put [for] his pillows, and set it up [for] a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
19And he called the name of that place Beit-El (The House of the Powerful One): but the name of that city was called Luz [Almond Tree] (almond tree) at the first.
20And Ya’akov (he who holds onto the heel of) vowed a vow, saying, If God-EL [The Powerful Living Word] will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on,
21So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) be my God-Elōhīm [The Living Word - The Many Powered]:
22And this stone, which I have set [for] a pillar, shall be God-Elōhīm’s [The Living Word - The Many Powered] house: and of all that youi shall give me I will surely give the tenth unto youi.
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