GenesisChapter 28

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¹So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. He gave him a command. "Don't marry a woman from Canaan. ²Go right away to Paddan-aram. Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. ³May God Almighty bless you. May he give you many children and make your family grow. May you become a large group of peoples. ⁴May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants. Then you will own the land where you now live as a foreigner. God gave this land to Abraham." ⁵So Isaac sent Jacob away to Paddan-aram. Jacob went to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean. Laban was the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. ⁶Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob. He learned that Isaac had sent him to Paddan-aram to find a wife there. Isaac had given him a command: "Don't marry a woman from Canaan." ⁷Esau also learned that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother. Jacob had gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸Esau saw that his father Isaac did not like the women from Canaan. ⁹So Esau went to Ishmael. He married Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael. She was the sister of Nebaioth. She was added to the wives he already had. ¹⁰Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. ¹¹He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had gone down. He took one of the stones there and put it under his head. Then he lay down to sleep. ¹²Jacob had a dream. He saw a ladder standing on the earth. Its top reached up to heaven. God's angels were going up and down on it. ¹³The LORD was standing at the top. 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 you are lying on. ¹⁴Your descendants will be as many as the dust of the earth. You will spread out to the west and the east, to the north and the south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. ¹⁵Look, I am with you. I will watch over you everywhere you go. I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you." ¹⁶Then Jacob woke up. He said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I didn't know it." ¹⁷He was afraid and said, "What an awesome place this is! This is nothing less than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven!" ¹⁸Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had put under his head. He set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹He named that place Bethel. Before that, the city had been called Luz.a ²⁰Then Jacob made a vow. He said, "If God will be with me and watch over me on this trip, and if he will give me food to eat and clothes to wear, ²¹so that I come back safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God. ²²This stone I have set up as a pillar will be God's house. And I will surely give you a tenth of everything you give me."