Genesis 28Book 1 of 66 · 22 verses · MBT primary, NKJV fallback where MBT pending

  1. Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and commanded him, saying, "You must not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.
  2. Arise, go at once to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take yourself a wife from there from the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.
  3. May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become an assembly of peoples.
  4. And may He give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may possess the land where you are living as a foreigner, which God gave to Abraham.
  5. So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
  6. Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he commanded him, saying, "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. Also Esau realized that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac.
  9. So Esau went to Ishmael and married Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, in addition to the wives he already had.
  10. Now Jacob departed from Beersheba and traveled toward Haran.
  11. So he came to a 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 under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.
  12. Then he dreamed, and behold, a stairway was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
  13. And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.
  14. Your descendants shall be as numerous as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
  15. Behold, I am with you and will watch over 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.
  16. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not even aware of it."
  17. And he was afraid and said, "What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the very gate of heaven!"
  18. Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a memorial pillar, and poured oil on top of it.
  19. And he called the name of that place Bethel, which means "house of God," but the name of that city had been Luz previously.
  20. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will indeed be with me and keep me on this journey that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
  21. so that I return safely to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God.
  22. And this stone which I have set up as a pillar shall be God's house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth back to You.