< Genesis 28 >

1 And Isaac calleth unto Jacob, and blesseth him, and commandeth him, and saith to him, 'Thou dost not take a wife of the daughters of Caanan;
And so Isaac called for Jacob, and he blessed him, and he instructed him, saying: “Do not be willing to accept a mate from the family of Canaan.
2 rise, go to Padan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel, thy mother's father, and take for thyself from thence a wife, of the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother;
But go, and journey to Mesopotamia of Syria, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and there accept for yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your maternal uncle.
3 and God Almighty doth bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and thou hast become an assembly of peoples;
And may God almighty bless you, and may he cause you to increase and also to multiply, so that you may be influential among the people.
4 and He doth give to thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee and to thy seed with thee, to cause thee to possess the land of thy sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.'
And may he give the blessings of Abraham to you, and to your offspring after you, so that you may possess the land of your sojourning, which he promised to your grandfather.”
5 And Isaac sendeth away Jacob, and he goeth to Padan-Aram, unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramaean, brother of Rebekah, mother of Jacob and Esau.
And when Isaac had dismissed him, setting out, he went to Mesopotamia of Syria, to Laban, the son of Bethuel, the Syrian, the brother to Rebekah, his mother.
6 And Esau seeth that Isaac hath blessed Jacob, and hath sent him to Padan-Aram to take to himself from thence a wife — in his blessing him that he layeth a charge upon him, saying, Thou dost not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan —
But Esau, seeing that his father had blessed Jacob and had sent him into Mesopotamia of Syria, to take a wife from there, and that, after the blessing, he had instructed him, saying: ‘You shall not accept a wife from the daughters of Canaan,’
7 that Jacob hearkeneth unto his father and unto his mother, and goeth to Padan-Aram —
and that Jacob, obeying his parents, had gone into Syria,
8 and Esau seeth that the daughters of Canaan are evil in the eyes of Isaac his father,
having evidence also that his father did not look with favor upon the daughters of Canaan,
9 and Esau goeth unto Ishmael, and taketh Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, sister of Nebajoth, unto his wives, to himself, for a wife.
he went to Ishmael, and he took as a wife, beside those he had before, Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.
10 And Jacob goeth out from Beer-Sheba, and goeth toward Haran,
Meanwhile Jacob, having departed from Beersheba, continued on to Haran.
11 and he toucheth at a [certain] place, and lodgeth there, for the sun hath gone in, and he taketh of the stones of the place, and maketh [them] his pillows, and lieth down in that place.
And when he had arrived at a certain place, where he would rest after the setting of the sun, he took some of the stones that lay there, and placing them under his head, he slept in the same place.
12 And he dreameth, and lo, a ladder set up on the earth, and its head is touching the heavens; and lo, messengers of God are going up and coming down by it;
And he saw in his sleep: a ladder standing upon the earth, with its top touching heaven, also, the Angels of God ascending and descending by it,
13 and lo, Jehovah is standing upon it, and He saith, 'I [am] Jehovah, God of Abraham thy father, and God of Isaac; the land on which thou art lying, to thee I give it, and to thy seed;
and the Lord, leaning upon the ladder, saying to him: “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land, in which you sleep, I will give to you and to your offspring.
14 and thy seed hath been as the dust of the land, and thou hast broken forth westward, and eastward, and northward, and southward, and all families of the ground have been blessed in thee and in thy seed.
And your offspring will be like the dust of the earth. You will spread abroad to the West, and to the East, and to the North, and to the Meridian. And in you and in your offspring, all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed.
15 'And lo, I [am] with thee, and have kept thee whithersoever thou goest, and have caused thee to turn back unto this ground; for I leave thee not till that I have surely done that which I have spoken to thee.'
And I will be your guardian wherever you will journey, and I will bring you back into this land. Neither will I dismiss you, until I have accomplished all that I have said.”
16 And Jacob awaketh out of his sleep, and saith, 'Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I knew not;'
And when Jacob had awakened from sleep, he said, “Truly, the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
17 and he feareth, and saith, 'How fearful [is] this place; this is nothing but a house of God, and this a gate of the heavens.'
And being terrified, he said: “How terrible this place is! This is nothing other than the house of God and the gateway of heaven.”
18 And Jacob riseth early in the morning, and taketh the stone which he hath made his pillows, and maketh it a standing pillar, and poureth oil upon its top,
Therefore, Jacob, arising in the morning, took the stone which he had placed under his head, and he set it up as monument, pouring oil over it.
19 and he calleth the name of that place Bethel, [house of God, ] and yet, Luz [is] the name of the city at the first.
And he called the name of the city, ‘Bethel,’ which before was called Luz.
20 And Jacob voweth a vow, saying, 'Seeing God is with me, and hath kept me in this way which I am going, and hath given to me bread to eat, and a garment to put on —
And then he made a vow, saying: “If God will be with me, and will guard me along the way by which I walk, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
21 when I have turned back in peace unto the house of my father, and Jehovah hath become my God,
and if I will return prosperously to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God,
22 then this stone which I have made a standing pillar is a house of God, and all that Thou dost give to me — tithing I tithe to Thee.'
and this stone, which I have set up as a monument, will be called ‘the House of God.’ And from all the things that you will give to me, I will offer tithes to you.”

< Genesis 28 >