Genesis 28

₁Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and greeted him. He told him: ‘Do not marry a girl from the land of Canaan. ₂You must go to the land of Paddan-Aram to the family of your grandfather Bethuel. You must marry one of the daughters of your uncle Laban. ₃God Almighty will bless you. He will make you fertile and give you many descendants. You will be the father of a great nation. ₄God will bless you as He blessed Abraham. He will bless you and your descendants. He will give you the land where you are a stranger now. This is the land that He gave to Abraham, and it will be your land.’

₅Then Isaac sent Jacob away and he went to Paddan-Aram to Laban, the Aramean. Laban was the son of Bethuel and the brother of Rebekah. Rebekah was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

₆Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to the land of Paddan-Aram. Isaac had told Jacob to marry one of the girls who lived there. Isaac had blessed him and said he should not marry one of the girls from the land of Canaan.

₇Esau saw that Jacob had listened to his father and mother and had gone to Paddan-Aram. ₈He realised that his father Isaac did not like the women of Canaan. ₉Then Esau went to Ishmael, Abraham's son. Esau had other wives, but he also married Mahalath, Ishmael's daughter. She was Nebaioth's sister.

₁₀Jacob went from the town of Beersheba to the town of Haran. ₁₁When the sun went down, he came to a place where he could sleep that night. He put a stone under his head and went to sleep. ₁₂He had a dream and in his dream there was a very long ladder on earth, and the top end of the ladder was in heaven. The angels of God came and climbed up and down the ladder. ₁₃Then the Lord came to him and stood next to him. He said to Jacob: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. I will give this land, where you are now, to you and your descendants. ₁₄You will have many descendants. There will be as many as the grains of sand of the earth and you will get more land, to the west, to the east, to the north and to the south. Everyone on earth will ask Me to bless them as I have blessed you and your descendants. ₁₅I will be with you, I will protect you wherever you go and I will bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done what I have promised you, this is sure.’

₁₆When Jacob woke up, he said: ‘The Lord is in this place and I did not know it.’ ₁₇He became afraid and said: ‘This is a holy place that makes me tremble. This is the house of God. I know now, this is the gate to heaven.’

₁₈When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the stone that had been under his head and he put it upright to be a monument. He poured olive oil over the stone ₁₉and he named the place Bethel. Before that day, the name of the place was Luz.

₂₀Then Jacob made a promise and said: ‘God will be my God if He is with me and protects me on this road where I am going. He will be my God if He gives me food and clothes ₂₁and if He brings me back safely to my father's family. ₂₂Lord, I have put up this stone to be a monument, so that I will know that it is a place where You are. I will also give You back one 10th of everything that You give me. I promise this.’