Genesis 28:10-22

Living Bible

¹⁰ So Jacob left Beer-sheba and journeyed toward Haran. ¹¹ That night, when he stopped to camp at sundown, he found a rock for a headrest and lay down to sleep, ¹² and dreamed that a staircase^[a] reached from earth to heaven, and he saw the angels of God going up and down upon it.

¹³ At the top of the stairs stood the Lord. “I am Jehovah,” he said, “the God of Abraham, and of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on is yours! I will give it to you and to your descendants. ¹⁴ For you will have descendants as many as dust! They will cover the land from east to west and from north to south; and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. ¹⁵ What’s more, I am with you, and will protect you wherever you go, and will bring you back safely to this land; I will be with you constantly until I have finished giving you all I am promising.”

^16-17 Then Jacob woke up. “God lives here!” he exclaimed in terror. “I’ve stumbled into his home! This is the awesome entrance to heaven!” ¹⁸ The next morning he got up very early and set his stone headrest upright as a memorial pillar, and poured olive oil over it. ¹⁹ He named the place Bethel (“House of God”), though the previous name of the nearest village^[b] was Luz.

²⁰ And Jacob vowed this vow to God: “If God will help and protect me on this journey and give me food and clothes, ²¹ and will bring me back safely to my father, then I will choose Jehovah as my God! ²² And this memorial pillar shall become a place for worship; and I will give you back a tenth of everything you give me!”