1So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him, ‘Don’t get married to a Canaanite woman.2Go at once to Paddan Aram. Go to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Find a wife for yourself there. Take her from among the daughters of your mother’s brother Laban.3May the Mighty God bless you. May he give you children. May he make your family larger until you become a community of nations.4May he give you and your children after you the blessing he gave to Abraham. Then you can take over the land where you now live as an outsider. It’s the land God gave to Abraham.’5Isaac sent Jacob on his way. Jacob went to Paddan Aram. He went to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean. Laban was Rebekah’s brother. And Rebekah was the mother of Jacob and Esau.6Esau found out that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram. Isaac wanted him to get a wife from there. Esau heard that when Isaac blessed Jacob, he commanded him, ‘Don’t get married to a woman from Canaan.’7Esau also learned that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram.8Then Esau realised how much his father Isaac disliked Canaanite women.9So he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath. She was the sister of Nebaioth and the daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael. Esau added her to the wives he already had.
Jacob has a dream at Bethel
10Jacob left Beersheba and started out for Harran.11He reached a certain place and stopped for the night. The sun had already set. He took one of the stones there and placed it under his head. Then he lay down to sleep.12In a dream he saw a stairway standing on the earth. Its top reached to heaven. The angels of God were going up and coming down on it.13The LORD stood beside the stairway. He said, ‘I am the LORD. I am the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your children after you the land you are lying on.14They will be like the dust of the earth that can’t be counted. They will spread out to the west and to the east. They will spread out to the north and to the south. All nations on earth will be blessed because of you and your children after you.15I am with you. I will watch over you everywhere you go. And I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’16Jacob woke up from his sleep. Then he thought, ‘The LORD is surely in this place. And I didn’t even know it.’17Jacob was afraid. He said, ‘How holy this place is! This must be the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.’18Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head. He set it up as a sacred stone. And he poured olive oil on top of it.19He named that place Bethel. But the city used to be called Luz.20Then Jacob made a promise. He said, ‘May God be with me. May he watch over me on this journey I’m taking. May he give me food to eat and clothes to wear.21May he do as he has promised so that I can return safely to my father’s home. Then you, LORD, will be my God.22This stone I’ve set up as a sacred stone will be God’s house. And I’ll give you a tenth of everything you give me.’
Genesis 28
English Standard Version
Jacob Sent to Laban
1Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. (Ge 27:46; Ge 28:6)2Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. (Ge 22:23; Ho 12:12)3God Almighty[1] bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. (Ge 17:1)4May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” (Ge 12:2; Ge 17:8; Ge 36:7; Ge 37:1)5Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
Esau Marries an Ishmaelite
6Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,”7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram.8So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, (Ge 24:3; Ge 26:35)9Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth. (Ge 25:13; Ge 36:3)
Jacob’s Dream
10Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. (Ge 21:31; Ge 26:33; Ac 7:2)11And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.12And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder[2] set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! (Nu 12:6; Job 33:15; Joh 1:51)13And behold, the Lord stood above it[3] and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. (Ge 13:14; Ge 26:24; Ge 35:1; Ge 35:12; Ge 48:3)14Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. (Ge 12:3; Ge 13:16)15Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Ge 26:24; Ge 31:3; Ge 35:6; 1Ki 8:57)16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” (Ex 3:5; Jos 5:15)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.”18So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. (Ge 31:13; Ge 31:45; Ge 35:14; Le 8:10; Nu 7:1; 1Sa 7:12; 2Sa 18:18)19He called the name of that place Bethel,[4] but the name of the city was Luz at the first. (Ge 35:7; Jud 1:23; Jud 1:26)20Then Jacob made 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 wear, (Ge 31:13)21so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, (De 26:17; Jud 11:31; 2Sa 15:7)22and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.” (Ge 14:20; Ge 35:7; Ge 35:14; Le 27:30)