Genesis 28

28So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed^h him. Then he commanded him: “Do not marry a Canaanite woman.^{i 2}Go at once to Paddan Aram,^aj to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel.^k Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.^{l 3}May God Almighty^bm blessⁿ you and make you fruitful^o and increase your numbers^p until you become a community of peoples. ⁴May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham,^q so that you may take possession of the land^r where you now reside as a foreigner,^s the land God gave to Abraham.” ⁵Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way,^t and he went to Paddan Aram,^u to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean,^v the brother of Rebekah,^w who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman,”^{x 7}and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. ⁸Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women^y were to his father Isaac;^{z 9}so he went to Ishmael^a and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth^b and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.^c

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

¹⁰Jacob left Beersheba^d and set out for Harran.^{e 11}When he reached a certain place,^f he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head^g and lay down to sleep. ¹²He had a dream^h in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.^{i 13}There above it^c stood the Lord,^j and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.^k I will give you and your descendants the land^l on which you are lying.^{m 14}Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and youⁿ will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south.^o All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.^{dp 15}I am with you^q and will watch over you^r wherever you go,^s and I will bring you back to this land.^t I will not leave you^u until I have done what I have promised you.^v”^w

¹⁶When Jacob awoke from his sleep,^x he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” ¹⁷He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place!^y This is none other than the house of God;^z this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head^a and set it up as a pillar^b and poured oil on top of it.^{c 19}He called that place Bethel,^ed though the city used to be called Luz.^e

²⁰Then Jacob made a vow,^f saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me^g on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear^{h 21}so that I return safelyⁱ to my father’s household,^j then the Lord^f will be my God^{k 22}and^g this stone that I have set up as a pillar^l will be God’s house,^m and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.ⁿ”