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Genesis 28
New American Standard Bible

Jacob Is Sent Away

28 So Isaac called Jacob and (A)blessed him and commanded him, [a]saying 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 [b](D)God Almighty (E)bless you and (F)make you fruitful and (G)multiply you, so that you may become a (H)multitude of peoples. 4 May He also give you the (I)blessing of Abraham, to you and to your [c]descendants with you, so that you may (J)possess the land where you (K)live as a stranger, 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 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 commanded him, saying, “(M)You 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 (N)the daughters of Canaan displeased [d]his father Isaac; 9 and Esau went to Ishmael, and [e]married, (O)besides 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 (P)Beersheba and went toward (Q)Haran. 11 And he [f]happened upon a [g](R)particular place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and made it a support for his head, and lay down in that place. 12 And (S)he had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, (T)the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 Then behold, (U)the Lord was standing [h]above it and said, “I am the Lord, (V)the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give (W)to you and to (X)your [i]descendants. 14 Your [j]descendants will also be like (Y)the dust of the earth, and you will [k]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 [l]descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, (AB)I am with you and (AC)will keep you wherever you go, and (AD)will bring you back to this land; for (AE)I will not leave you until I have done what I have [m]promised you.” 16 Then Jacob (AF)awoke from his sleep and said, “(AG)The Lord is certainly in this place, and I did not know it!” 17 And he was afraid and said, “(AH)How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

18 So Jacob got up early in the morning, and took (AI)the stone that he had placed as a support for his head, and set it up as a memorial stone, and poured oil on its top. 19 Then he named that place [n](AJ)Bethel; but [o]previously the name of the city had been (AK)Luz. 20 Jacob also (AL)made a vow, saying, “(AM)If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I [p]take, and give me [q](AN)food to eat and garments to wear, 21 and (AO)I return to my father’s house in [r]safety, (AP)then the Lord will be my God. 22 And this stone, which I have set up as a memorial stone, (AQ)will be God’s house, and (AR)of everything that You give me I will assuredly give a tenth to You.”

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 28:1 Lit and said to
  2. Genesis 28:3 Heb El Shaddai
  3. Genesis 28:4 Lit seed
  4. Genesis 28:8 Lit in the eyes of his
  5. Genesis 28:9 Lit took for his wife
  6. Genesis 28:11 Lit lighted on
  7. Genesis 28:11 Lit the place
  8. Genesis 28:13 Or beside him
  9. Genesis 28:13 Lit seed
  10. Genesis 28:14 Lit seed
  11. Genesis 28:14 Lit break through
  12. Genesis 28:14 Lit seed
  13. Genesis 28:15 Lit spoken to
  14. Genesis 28:19 I.e., the house of God
  15. Genesis 28:19 Lit at the first
  16. Genesis 28:20 Lit go
  17. Genesis 28:20 Lit bread
  18. Genesis 28:21 Lit peace
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Genesis 28
New King James Version

Jacob Sent to His Uncle Laban

28 Then Isaac called Jacob and (A)blessed him, and [a]charged him, and said to him: (B)“You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 (C)Arise, go to (D)Padan Aram, to the house of (E)Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of (F)Laban your mother’s brother.

3 “May (G)God Almighty bless you,
And make you (H)fruitful and multiply you,
That you may be an assembly of peoples;
4 And give you (I)the blessing of Abraham,
To you and your descendants with you,
That you may inherit the land
(J)In[b] which you are a stranger,
Which God gave to Abraham.”

5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Esau Marries Mahalath

6 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You 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 Padan Aram. 8 Also Esau saw (K)that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. 9 So Esau went to Ishmael and (L)took (M)Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, (N)the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

Jacob’s Vow at Bethel

10 Now Jacob (O)went out from Beersheba and went toward (P)Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he (Q)dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there (R)the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

13 (S)And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: (T)“I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; (U)the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your (V)descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad (W)to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and (X)in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, (Y)I am with you and will (Z)keep[c] you wherever you go, and will (AA)bring you back to this land; for (AB)I will not leave you (AC)until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in (AD)this place, and I did not know it.” 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 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, (AE)set it up as a pillar, (AF)and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of (AG)that place [d]Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. 20 (AH)Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If (AI)God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me (AJ)bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21 so that (AK)I come back to my father’s house in peace, (AL)then the Lord shall be my God. 22 And this stone which I have set as a pillar (AM)shall be God’s house, (AN)and of all that You give me I will surely give a [e]tenth to You.”

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 28:1 commanded
  2. Genesis 28:4 Lit. Of your sojournings
  3. Genesis 28:15 protect
  4. Genesis 28:19 Lit. House of God
  5. Genesis 28:22 tithe
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Genesis 28
New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 28

1 [a]Isaac therefore summoned Jacob and blessed him, charging him: “You shall not marry a Canaanite woman!(A) 2 Go now to Paddan-aram, to the home of your mother’s father Bethuel, and there choose a wife for yourself from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.(B) 3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fertile, multiply you that you may become an assembly of peoples. 4 May God extend to you and your descendants the blessing of Abraham, so that you may gain possession of the land where you are residing, which he assigned to Abraham.”(C) 5 Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way; he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.(D)

6 Esau noted that Isaac had blessed Jacob when he sent him to Paddan-aram to get himself a wife there, and that, as he gave him his blessing, he charged him, “You shall not marry a Canaanite woman,” 7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram. 8 Esau realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac, 9 so Esau went to Ishmael, and in addition to the wives he had, married Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.(E)

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel.[b] 10 Jacob departed from Beer-sheba and proceeded toward Haran. 11 When he came upon a certain place,[c] he stopped there for the night, since the sun had already set. Taking one of the stones at the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12 Then he had a dream: a stairway[d] rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God’s angels were going up and down on it.(F) 13 And there was the Lord standing beside him and saying: I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are lying I will give to you and your descendants.(G) 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and through them you will spread to the west and the east, to the north and the south. In you and your descendants all the families of the earth will find blessing.(H) 15 I am with you and will protect you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you.(I)

16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Truly, the Lord is in this place and I did not know it!” 17 He was afraid and said: “How awesome this place is! This is nothing else but the house of God, the gateway to heaven!” 18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a sacred pillar,[e] and poured oil on top of it.(J) 19 He named that place Bethel,[f] whereas the former name of the town had been Luz.(K)

20 Jacob then made this vow:[g] “If God will be with me and protect me on this journey I am making and give me food to eat and clothes to wear, 21 and I come back safely to my father’s house, the Lord will be my God. 22 This stone that I have set up as a sacred pillar will be the house of God. Of everything you give me, I will return a tenth part to you without fail.”

Footnotes

  1. 28:1–9 A glimpse of Rebekah’s shrewdness is provided by 27:42–28:2. She is aware of Esau’s murderous plot against Jacob (27:42–45) but realizes the episode of the stolen blessing is still painful to Isaac; she therefore uses another motive to persuade Isaac to send Jacob away—he must marry within the family (endogamy), unlike Esau. Esau, unreflective as usual, realizes too late he also should marry within the family but, significantly, marries from Abraham’s rejected line. At this point in the story, Jacob (and his mother) have taken the blessing for themselves. Their actions have put Jacob in a precarious position: he must flee the land because of his brother’s murderous intent and find a wife in a far country. One might ask how God’s blessing can be given to such an unworthy schemer. There is a biblical pattern of preferring the younger brother or sister over the older—Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Rachel over Leah, Joseph over his older brothers, Ephraim over Manasseh (Gn 48:14), David over his older brothers.
  2. 28:10–22 As Jacob is leaving the land on his way to an uncertain future in Paddan-aram, God appears to him at a sacred place that Jacob had visited only to take a night’s rest. Jacob’s unawareness of the holiness of the place underscores the graciousness of the gift. On his return to Canaan, he will again encounter a divine visitor in the form of the mysterious attacker (32:23–33) and, after his return and reconciliation with Esau, he will again go to Bethel (35:1–15).
  3. 28:11 Place: the Hebrew word is often used specifically of a sacred site. The ambiguous word “place” is used here, for the text emphasizes that Jacob has no idea the place he has come upon is sacred; only when he wakes up does he realize it is sacred. The place was Bethel (v. 19), a sacred site as early as the time of Abraham (12:8).
  4. 28:12 Stairway: in Hebrew, sullam, traditionally but inaccurately translated as “ladder.” The corresponding verb, salal, means “to heap up” something, such as dirt for a highway or a ramp. The imagery in Jacob’s dream may be derived from the Babylonian ziggurat or temple tower, “with its top in the sky” (11:4), and with brick steps leading up to a small temple at the top.
  5. 28:18 Sacred pillar: in Hebrew, masseba, a stone which might vary in shape and size, set upright and usually intended for some religious purpose. The custom of erecting such sacred pillars in Palestine went back to its pre-Israelite period; but since their polytheistic associations were often retained, later Israelite religion forbade their erection (Lv 26:1; Dt 16:22) and ordered the destruction of those that were associated with other religions (Ex 34:13; Dt 12:3).
  6. 28:19 Bethel: i.e., “house of God”; the reference is to the house of God in v. 17.
  7. 28:20 This vow: knowing well that Esau’s murderous wrath stands between him and the possession of the land promised him, Jacob makes his vow very precise. He vows to make the God who appeared to him his own if the God guides him safely to Paddan-aram and back to this land.
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Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.