Genesis
Chapter 28
1 Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, gave him instructions, and said to him, “You must not marry any of the Canaanite women.”
2 Get up, go to Padanaram, to your grandfather Bethuel’s house; and get a wife from there among your uncle Laban’s daughters.
3 May God bless you, make you fruitful, and increase your numbers so you become many people.
4 God will give you and your descendants the same blessing He gave Abraham, so you can own the land where you are living as a foreigner, which God gave to Abraham.
5 Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padanaram to Laban, Bethuel the Syrian’s son and Rebekah’s brother, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6 When Esau realized that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Padanaram to find a wife there, and that he had instructed him not to marry a Canaanite woman as he blessed him.
7 Jacob listened to his father and mother and went to Padanaram.
8 Esau saw that his father Isaac did not like the women of Canaan.
9 Esau went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, Ishmael’s daughter and Nebajoth’s sister, in addition to his other wives.
10 Jacob left Beersheba and headed for Haran.
11 He came to a certain place, stayed there overnight because the sun had gone down, took some stones to use as pillows, and lay down to sleep.
12 He dreamed of a ladder standing on the ground with its top reaching to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down on it.
13 Look, God stood above and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your children the land you’re lying on.”
14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. Through you and your descendants, all the earth’s families will be blessed.
15 Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I do what I promised you.
16 Jacob woke up from his sleep and said, “God is definitely in this place, and I didn’t know it.”
17 He was scared and said, “This place is terrifying! It’s truly God’s house and the entrance to heaven.”
18 Jacob got up early in the morning, took the stone he used as his pillow, stood it upright as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it.
19 He named that place Bethel, though it was first called Luz.
20 Jacob made a promise, saying, “If God is with me and keeps me safe on my journey, gives me food to eat and clothes to wear,
21 So if I return safely to my father’s home, then God will be my God.
22 This stone I have put up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give back to you a tenth of everything you give me.