Genesis 28
King James Version
28 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
2 Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughers of Laban thy mother's brother.
3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.
5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughers of Canaan;
7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram;
8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father;
9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.
10 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.
11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
21 So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God:
22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.
Genesis 28
Legacy Standard Bible
Jacob Is Sent to Laban
28 So Isaac called Jacob and (A)blessed him and commanded him and said to him, “(B)You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of (C)Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 3 May [a](D)God Almighty (E)bless you and (F)make you fruitful and (G)multiply you, that you may become an (H)assembly of peoples. 4 May He also give you the (I)blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed with you, that you may (J)possess the land of your (K)sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.” 5 Then (L)Isaac 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 And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take for himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, saying, “(M)You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” 7 and that Jacob had listened to his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. 8 So Esau saw that (N)the daughters of Canaan were displeasing [b]in the sight of his father Isaac; 9 and Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife, (O)besides the wives that he had.
Jacob’s Dream
10 Then Jacob departed from (P)Beersheba and went toward (Q)Haran. 11 And he reached [c]a (R)certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it [d]under his head and lay down in that place. 12 (S)Then he had a dream, and behold, a [e]ladder stood on the earth with its top touching heaven; and behold, (T)the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, (U)Yahweh stood [f]above it and said, “I am Yahweh, (V)the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it (W)to you and to (X)your seed. 14 And your seed will also be like (Y)the dust of the earth, and you will [g]spread out (Z)to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and (AA)in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, (AB)I am with you and (AC)will keep you wherever you go. And (AD)I will bring you back to this land; for (AE)I will not forsake you until I have done what I have [h]promised you.” 16 Then Jacob (AF)awoke from his sleep and said, “(AG)Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “(AH)How fearsome 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 (AI)the stone that he had put [i]under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. 19 And he called the name of that place [j](AJ)Bethel; however, [k]previously the name of the city had been (AK)Luz. 20 Then Jacob (AL)made a vow, saying, “(AM)If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey on which I am going, and will give me [l](AN)food to eat and garments to wear, 21 and (AO)I return to my father’s house in peace, (AP)then Yahweh will be my God. 22 Now this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, (AQ)will be God’s house, and (AR)of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
Footnotes
- Genesis 28:3 Heb El Shaddai
- Genesis 28:8 Lit in the eyes of his
- Genesis 28:11 Lit the place
- Genesis 28:11 Lit at his head-place
- Genesis 28:12 Or stairway
- Genesis 28:13 Or beside him
- Genesis 28:14 Lit break through
- Genesis 28:15 Lit spoken to
- Genesis 28:18 Lit at his head-place
- Genesis 28:19 Lit the house of God
- Genesis 28:19 Lit at the first
- Genesis 28:20 Lit bread
Genesis 28
Easy-to-Read Version
28 Isaac called Jacob and blessed him. Then Isaac gave him a command and said, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman. 2 So leave this place and go to Paddan Aram. Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Laban, your mother’s brother, lives there. Marry one of his daughters. 3 I pray that God All-Powerful[a] will bless you and give you many children. I pray that you will become the father of a great nation 4 and that God will bless you and your children the same way he blessed Abraham. And I pray that you will own the land where you live. This is the land God gave to Abraham.”
5 So Isaac sent Jacob to Rebekah’s brother in Paddan Aram. Jacob went to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean. Laban was the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6 Esau learned that his father Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram to find a wife there. He also learned that Isaac commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman. 7 Esau learned that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and went to Paddan Aram. 8 Esau saw from this that his father did not want his sons to marry Canaanite women. 9 Esau already had two wives, but he went to Abraham’s son Ishmael and married another woman, Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. Mahalath was Nebaioth’s sister.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10 Jacob left Beersheba and went to Haran. 11 The sun had already set when he came to a good place to spend the night. He took a rock there and laid his head on it to sleep. 12 Jacob had a dream. He dreamed there was a ladder that was on the ground and reached up into heaven. He saw the angels of God going up and down the ladder. 13 And then Jacob saw the Lord standing by the ladder. He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. I will give you the land that you are lying on now. I will give this land to you and to your children. 14 You will have as many descendants as there are particles of dust on the earth. They will spread east and west, north and south. All the families on earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants.
15 “I am with you, and I will protect you everywhere you go. I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised.”
16 Then Jacob woke up and said, “I know that the Lord is in this place, but I did not know he was here until I slept.”
17 Jacob was afraid and said, “This is a very great place. This is the house of God. This is the gate to heaven.”
18 Jacob got up very early in the morning. He took the rock he had slept on and set it up on its edge. Then he poured oil on the rock. In this way he made it a memorial to God. 19 The name of that place was Luz, but Jacob named it Bethel.[b]
20 Then Jacob made a promise. He said, “If God will be with me, and if he will protect me on this trip, and if he gives me food to eat and clothes to wear, 21 and if I return in peace to my father’s house—if he does all these things—then the Lord will be my God. 22 I am setting this stone up as a memorial stone. It will show that this is a holy place for God, and I will give God one-tenth of all he gives me.”
Footnotes
- Genesis 28:3 God All-Powerful Literally, “El Shaddai.”
- Genesis 28:19 Bethel A town in Israel. This name means “God’s house.”
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