Genesis 28
1 Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
Then Isaac summoned Jacob, and gave him a blessing. He told him, “Do not marry a woman of the Canaan people-group.
2 Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
Instead, go right away to Paddan-Aram [in northwest Mesopotamia], to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Ask one of the daughters of your mother’s brother Laban to marry you.
3 May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples,
I will pray that God Almighty will bless you, and enable you to [get married and] have many descendants, in order that they will become many people-groups.
4 and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham.”
I also will pray that he will bless you and your descendants by enabling you to possess/seize the land in which you are now living as a foreigner, the land that God promised to give to [my father] Abraham and his descendants.”
5 Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-Aram, to live with Rebekah’s brother Laban, the son of Bethuel, who belonged to the Aram people-group.
6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;”
Esau found out that his father Isaac had blessed Jacob and then sent him to Paddan-Aram. He also found out that when he blessed Isaac, he told him, “Do not marry a woman of the Canaan people-group,”
7 and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan Aram.
and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother, and had gone to Paddan-Aram.
8 Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn’t please Isaac, his father.
Esau also realized that his father Isaac did not approve of women from the Canaan people-group.
9 So Esau went to Ishmael, and took, in addition to the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.
Because of that, Esau went to see his uncle Ishmael, and married Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. Mahalath was the sister of Nabaioth and the granddaughter of Abraham.
10 Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.
Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and started walking along the road to Haran.
11 He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.
When he arrived at a certain place, he stopped there, because the sun had gone down. He took one of the stones there and put it under his head to use as a pillow. Then he lay down and slept there.
12 He dreamed and saw a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
While he was sleeping, he had a dream, in which he [was surprised to] see a stairway. The bottom of the stairway was on the earth and the top was in the sky. Jacob also saw that God’s angels were going up and down the stairway.
13 Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, “I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. I will give the land you lie on to you and to your offspring.
And he [was surprised to] see Yahweh standing at the top of the stairway, saying “I am Yahweh God, whom your grandfather Abraham worshiped, and whom Isaac worships. I will give to you and to your descendants the land on which you are lying.
14 Your offspring will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your offspring, all the families of the earth will be blessed.
Your descendants will be as numerous as the particles of dirt that are on the earth, and their territory will be very large. It will extend in all directions, to the east and to the west, to the north and to the south. And people of all people-groups on earth will receive blessings because of [what happens to] you and to your descendants.
15 Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.”
I will help you and protect you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you; I will continue to do for you all that I have promised to do.”
16 Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I didn’t know it.”
[During the night], when Jacob woke up from sleeping, he thought, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and until now I was not aware of it!”
17 He was afraid, and said, “How awesome this place is! This is none other than God’s house, and this is the gate of heaven.”
He was afraid, and he said, “This place is very awesome! This is surely the place where God lives, and this is the entrance to heaven!”
18 Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on its top.
In the morning Jacob got up and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up on its end to show that the place was a holy place. He poured some olive oil on top of the stone [to dedicate it to God].
19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
He named that place Bethel, [which means ‘house of God’.] Previously its name was Luz.
20 Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If God 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,
Jacob solemnly promised God, saying, “God, if you will help me and protect me while I am taking this journey, and if you give me enough food to eat and clothes to wear,
21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Yahweh will be my God,
in order that I can later return safely to my father’s house, then you, Yahweh, will be the God that I will worship.
22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God’s house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give a tenth to you.”
This stone that I have set up will mark the place where people can worship you. And I will give back to you a tenth of everything that you give to me.”
