28Genesis 28

Isaac's Instructions to Jacob

1Isaac called in Jacob, then gave him a blessing, and said: Don't marry any of those Canaanite women.Select Genesis 28:1

2Go at once to your mother's father Bethuel in northern Syria and choose a wife from one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.Select Genesis 28:2

3I pray that God All-Powerful will bless you with many descendants and let you become a great nation.Select Genesis 28:3

4May he bless you with the land he promised Abraham, so that you will take over this land where we now live as foreigners.Select Genesis 28:4

5Isaac then sent Jacob to stay with Rebekah's brother Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean.Select Genesis 28:5

Esau Marries the Daughter of Ishmael

6Esau found out that his father Isaac had blessed Jacob and had warned him not to marry any of the Canaanite women. He also learned that Jacob had been sent to find a wife in northern SyriaSelect Genesis 28:6

7and that he had obeyed his father and mother.Select Genesis 28:7

8Esau already had several wives, but he now realized how much his father hated the Canaanite women.Select Genesis 28:8

9So he married Ishmael's daughter Mahalath, who was the sister of Nebaioth and the granddaughter of Abraham.Select Genesis 28:9

Jacob's Dream at Bethel

10Jacob left the town of Beersheba and started out for Haran.Select Genesis 28:10

11At sunset he stopped for the night and went to sleep, resting his head on a large rock.Select Genesis 28:11

12In a dream he saw a ladder that reached from earth to heaven, and God's angels were going up and down on it.Select Genesis 28:12

13The Lord was standing beside the ladder and said: I am the Lord God who was worshiped by Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are now sleeping.Select Genesis 28:13

14Your descendants will spread over the earth in all directions and will become as numerous as the specks of dust. Your family will be a blessing to all people.Select Genesis 28:14

15Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will bring you back to this land. I won't leave you—I will do all I have promised.Select Genesis 28:15

16Jacob woke up suddenly and thought, “The Lord is in this place, and I didn't even know it.”Select Genesis 28:16

17Then Jacob became frightened and said, “What a frightening place! It must be the house of God and the gateway to heaven.”Select Genesis 28:17

18When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the rock that he had used for a pillow and stood it up as a place of worship. Then he poured olive oil on the rock to dedicate it to God,Select Genesis 28:18

19and he named the place Bethel. Before that it had been named Luz.Select Genesis 28:19

20Jacob solemnly promised God, “If you go with me and watch over me as I travel, and if you give me food and clothesSelect Genesis 28:20

21and bring me safely home again, you will be my God.Select Genesis 28:21

22This rock will be your house, and I will give back to you a tenth of everything you give me.”Select Genesis 28:22