28:1 So Isaac summoned Jacob
and then blessed him.
Then he instructed him:
Don’t marry a Canaanite girl.
28:2 Instead go to Paddanaram
to the house of your mother's father Bethuel.
Find a wife for yourself there
from among the daughters of Laban
your mother's brother.
28:3 May God Almighty bless you
and make you productive
and increase your followers
until you have a community of people.
28:4 And give Abraham’s blessing
to you and your descendants
so you may be entrusted the land
where you are now a foreigner
the land God entrusted to Abraham.
28:5 Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way
and went to Paddanaram
to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean
the brother of Rebekah
the mother of Jacob and Esau.
28:6 So Esau learned Isaac blessed Jacob
and had sent him to Paddanaram
to find a wife from that place
and while blessing him he instructed:
Do not marry a Canaanite woman.
28:7 And Jacob obeyed his father and mother
and went to Paddan
28:8 Esau understood the Canaanite women
were displeasing to his father Isaac.
28:9 So he went to Ishmael
and married Mahalath
the sister of Nebaioth
and daughter of Ishmael
son of Abraham
adding to the wives he had.
28:10 Jacob left
and traveled to
28:11 When he came to a stop
he stayed for the night as the sun had set.
Taking one of the stones from there
he put it under his head
and laid down to sleep.
28:12 Then he had a dream
and saw a stairway set up on earth
with its top reaching to heaven
and the angels of God
ascending and descending it.
28:13 Yahweh stood over it saying:
I am Yahweh
God of your teacher Abraham
and the God of Isaac.
The world that gives you rest
will be provided to you
and your followers.
28:14 Your followers will be
like the dust of the earth
spreading out to the west
and east, north and south.
All the people of the earth
will be blessed through you
and your followers.
28:15 Surely I will be with you
and will keep you
wherever you go
and bring you back
to that world.
I will not leave you
because what I promise you
will come to pass.
28:16 When Jacob woke up he said:
Surely Yahweh is here
and I knew it not.
28:17 He was awestruck and said:
How awesome is this place.
This is surely the house of God
and the gate of heaven.
28:18 Jacob rose early in the morning
and took the stone he used as a pillow
and set it up as a monument
and poured oil on top of it.
28:19 He called that place
though the village was first called Luz.
28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying:
God will be with me
and will watch over me
on my journey
giving me food and clothing.
28:21 Allowing my safe return
to my father's household
for Yahweh is my God.
28:22 And this stone I set up as a monument
will be God's house
and of all that I’m given
I will give Him a tenth.
