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The Holy Bible

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The Book of Genesis

Chapter 28

  

Jacob’s Departure

1
ISAAC

called in Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: “Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women.  2  Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father . Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.  3  May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you become a community of peoples.  4  May God give you and your descendants the blessing of Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”  5  Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Esau Marries Mahalath

6 Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to get a wife there, and that when he blessed him he had commanded him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,”  7  and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan-aram.  8  Esau then realised how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac;  9  so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, in addition to the other wives he already had. Mahalath was the sister of Nebajoth.

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

10  Jacob left Beer-sheba and set out for Haran.  11  When he reached a certain place, he stopped there for the night because the sun had set. He took one of the stones there and placed it under his head and lay down to sleep.  12  He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth with its top reaching heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

13  The Lord was standing above it, and He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.  14  Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, and to the north and to the south. All the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.  15  Behold, I am with you, and I will watch you wherever you go. I will bring you back this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

16  When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”  17  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.”

18  Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it,  19  and he called the name of that place Bethel, though the city had previously been called Luz.

20  Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey I am taking, and if He gives me food to eat and clothing to wear,  21  and if I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God.  22  This stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth.”