Genesis 27:41-28:19
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Jacob Escapes Esau’s Fury
41 Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”(A) 42 But the words of her elder son Esau were told to Rebekah, so she sent and called her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran,(B) 44 and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away— 45 until your brother’s anger against you turns away, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women such as these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”(C)
28 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women.(D) 2 Go at once to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and take as wife from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.(E) 3 May God Almighty[a] bless you and make you fruitful and numerous, that you may become a company of peoples.(F) 4 May he give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, land that God gave to Abraham.”(G) 5 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
Esau Marries Ishmael’s Daughter
6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there and that as he blessed him he charged him, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women,”(H) 7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. 8 So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please his father Isaac,(I) 9 Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.(J)
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12 And he dreamed that there was a stairway[b] set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.(K) 13 And the Lord stood beside him[c] and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring,(L) 14 and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed[d] in you and in your offspring.(M) 15 Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”(N) 16 Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!”(O) 17 And he was afraid and said, “How 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 he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.(P) 19 He called that place Bethel,[e] but the name of the city was Luz at the first.(Q)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.