Genesis 28:10–22

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

¹⁰Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. ¹¹When he came to a place, he spent the night there because the sun had set. He found a stone and laid his head on it to go to sleep. ¹²Jacob dreamed that there was a ladder resting on the earth and reaching up into heaven, and he saw angels of God going up and coming down the ladder. ¹³Then Jacob saw the Lord standing above the ladder, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your grandfather, and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are now sleeping. ¹⁴Your descendants will be as many as the dust of the earth. They will spread west and east, north and south, and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. ¹⁵I am with you and will protect you everywhere you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

¹⁶Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not know it.” ¹⁷He was afraid and said, “This place frightens me! It is surely the house of God and the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone he had slept on and set it up on its end. Then he poured olive oil on the top of it. ¹⁹At first, the name of that city was Luz, but Jacob named it Bethel. ⁿ

²⁰Then Jacob made a promise. He said, “I want God to be with me and to protect me on this journey. I want him to give me food to eat and clothes to wear ²¹so I will be able to return in peace to my father’s house. If the Lord does these things, he will be my God. ²²This stone which I have set up on its end will be the house of God. And I will give God one-tenth of all he gives me.”