Chapter 28

Jacob Is Sent Away

1 So Isaac called Jacob and ablessed him and charged him, and said to him, “bYou shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

2 “Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of aBethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.

3 “May 1aGod Almighty bbless you and cmake you fruitful and dmultiply you, that you may become a ecompany of peoples.

4 “May He also give you the ablessing of Abraham, to you and to your 1descendants with you, that you may bpossess the land of your csojournings, which God gave to Abraham.”

5 Then aIsaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, “aYou shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”

7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram.

8 So Esau saw that athe daughters of Canaan displeased 1his father Isaac;

9 and Esau went to Ishmael, and 1married, abesides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.

Jacob’s Dream

10 Then Jacob departed from aBeersheba and went toward bHaran.

11 He 1came to 2a acertain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it 3under his head, and lay down in that place.

12 aHe had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, bthe angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

13 And behold, athe Lord stood 1above it and said, “I am the Lord, bthe God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it cto you and to dyour 2descendants.

14 “Your 1descendants will also be like athe dust of the earth, and you will 2spread out bto the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and cin you and in your 1descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

15 “Behold, aI am with you and bwill keep you wherever you go, and cwill bring you back to this land; for dI will not leave you until I have done what I have 1promised you.”

16 Then Jacob aawoke from his sleep and said, “bSurely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”

17 He was afraid and said, “aHow awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

18 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took athe stone that he had put 1under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top.

19 He called the name of that place 1aBethel; however, 2previously the name of the city had been bLuz.

20 Then Jacob amade a vow, saying, “bIf God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I 1take, and will give me 2cfood to eat and garments to wear,

21 and aI return to my father’s house in 1safety, bthen the Lord will be my God.

22 “This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, awill be God’s house, and bof all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”